RWBY: Be Careful What You Wish For
by CeleneTheAngel
Summary: A wish is all it took for her to be whisked off to Remnant. She had watched the series, and knew what was going to happen. Thrust into a different world with new rules, new laws, and without any of the tools to survive, Ochre will do whatever she can to make sure none of her new friends die in this world of bloody evolution. And maybe try to stop Salem while she's at it. Oc-insert.
1. Wish Upon a Star

**Bold text= author's notes**

 _Italics text= internal thoughts/ emphasis on certain words_

Underlined text= titles

 **Disclaimer** **\- I do not own RWBY, any of its songs, or any of its characters. That privilege belongs to Rooster Teeth, Jeff and Casey Lee Williams, and Monty Oum. I only own this story, and my OC.**

 **Enjoy reading the chapter!  
**

 **Prologue**

Celene lay on her bed, completely relaxed with her tablet in her hand. She had just tapped the YouTube app and was about to search for her favorite series. Her fingers pressed the keys R-W-B-Y and then she pressed search.

A playlist labeled RWBY binge was at the top of the page, and she tapped it. A content sigh left her mouth as the song _This will be the day_ started playing.

 **An Hour Later...**

She lay on the bed, content and comfortable in every way. Especially after re-watching Volumes one and two of RWBY. She looked out her window, to see a golden setting sun on the horizon, and the first stars of night appearing. The warm summer air swirled around her, and a thought occurred. School would be starting again soon, and the thought saddened her. She didn't want the feeling of freedom to end, but it would, inevitably, as it always had.

She swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat up, walking over to her window, and peering out it. The sun was all but gone, and the moon had taken its place in the sky. Next to it sat a single star.

 _Hmm._ Celene thought to herself. _Reminds me of something I heard when I was younger. What was it again? Oh right! Wishing upon a star._

As she stared up into the sky, she thought. _It wouldn't hurt to at least_ try. So she got on her knees, and folded her hands into a prayer position. _I can't believe I'm doing this..._ She started whispering " _starlight, star bright. First star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight._ "

She looked back up at the moon and the single star, and wondered what she wanted most in the world, at that moment. Unfortunately, that was also the moment her brain decided to stop, and she didn't have any ideas. It tended to happen a lot with her... **  
**

She glanced back at her tablet, which hadn't automatically turned off yet, and it still on YouTube, paused on a scene in RWBY. And an idea popped into her head. She whispered, " _I would love to be able to go to Remnant, and meet teams RWBY and JNPR. To interact with them, and become a part of their story._ "

She stood up, and turned towards the door. Upon walking closer to it, she could hear giggling and other various sounds from downstairs. _My two little sisters will be going to bed soon._ She remembered, and she suddenly realized how tired she was. As little feet ran up the steps, Celene turned off the lights, and shoved her tablet under her pillow. She put on her sleeping cap, which looked like a cartoon deer head. As blackness replaced all the color in her vision, her eyelids grew heavy. Someone opened the door to the bedroom (probably just one of her sisters), and she drifted off to sleep.

Someone, somewhere must've been listening when Celene made that wish. Because when she woke up, she most certainly wasn't in her room.

She was outside, on a street corner. And it was pretty late at night. Thanks to the streetlights, she was clearly able to observe her surroundings. She took a moment to look at her clothes. She was wearing a gray shirt with black pants. Her hair was as wavy and curly and frizzy as it had always been. There wasn't a mirror, but she could assume that her face and dark brown eyes had stayed the same. The sound of shattering glass drew her attention to a shop further down the street.

She started running in that direction, and nearly tripped on two objects. She picked them up and took a minute to examine them. A book she was reading earlier and her deer mask. She tucked them under arm and turned to run towards the shop. She could see the sign that had the name before she actually reached the shop. It read **From Dust 'til Dawn**.

Wait... Why was that so familiar... Oh God... No it can't be...

 _Remnant..._ But how did she get here. (Echoes in head) " _I wish I may, I wish I might._ " _Of course..._ She realized and face palmed. _I can't believe it actually worked..._ She internally groaned.

"Lesson learned universe." Celene grumbled to herself. The words echoed in her head, a lesson she would never forget.

 _Be careful what you wish for..._


	2. Little Red Riding Hood

**Chapter 1**

The sound of a door being forcefully pushed open so hard it hit the wall brought Celene's attention back to the scene in front of her. The girl that had just jumped out the window was staring up at someone else still inside. The piece of metal she was holding unfolded and expanded into a humongous red and black scythe. She swung it around and impaled it into the ground.

No matter how many times Celene had watched this scene, it never ceased to amaze her. An annoyed voice said "Get her!" And a bunch of men dressed in black ran out to meet the red cloaked girl that you knew as Ruby Rose. She lifter her scythe and slashed at one of the man. Another met a similar fate. One started shooting at her, but she zipped around, avoiding the bullets and hit him so that he flew into the air. She then proceeded to jump up and swing at him again, hammering him into the ground.

She hadn't noticed one of the henchmen that had avoided her scythe, and was now creeping around to her back to ambush her. Another man who Celene knew as Roman Torchwick was distracting the red hooded girl. The man creeping up behind Ruby was going about unnoticed. She realized that he was about to attack, but Roman still held the girl's full attention.

A long, sharp ended shard of glass was lying on the ground. Celene picked it up, and without thinking, lunged at the man, and plunged the shard deep into his right shoulder. This caught the man by surprise, and he swung his sword, not yet feeling the pain. Celene instinctively ducked under the swing and punched the man, disorienting him. She kicked him in the head, hard, rendering him unconscious. Both Ruby and Torchwick saw the man crumple to the ground. Roman shifted his gaze between the two of them. He looked rather annoyed. Ruby was staring at Celene, surprised yet grateful. She pointed back to Torchwick who was glaring at Ruby.

"You were worth every cent, truly you were." Roman said to himself while lightly kicking one of the unconscious men. He raised his voice so that both Celene and Ruby could hear him. "Well, Red, random girl I've never seen before, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening." He crushed his cigar and lifted his cane. "And as much as I'd love to stick around, I believe this, is where we part ways." The bottom of his cane opened, and he shot a kind of exploding flare at Ruby. The recoil of her gun shot her up above the flare.

Celene knew where Roman was going, so before the smoke could even begin to clear, she ran over to where she knew the ladder was. She started to climb, but Roman was already way above her. Ruby immediately saw where she was and got on top of the roof just after Celene did.

Roman ran to the end of the roof, and a bullhead flew out from behind the building. Its bright light seemed to faze Ruby, but it completely blinded Celene. They both heard a *clink* and Ruby looked down to see the flame crystal that had just landed near her. Celene just barely managed to see Torchwick raising his cane, and without thinking, she pushed Ruby off to the side.

Just before the flare could reach the dust crystal, a figure dropped own in between Celene and the Bullhead. A blonde woman with a flowy purple cape shot bolts of energy at the bullhead, knocking it off balance and stopping it from immediately taking off. A few clouds formed in the sky, and ice shards rained down on the Bullhead, shattering most of its windows. A woman in a red flame dust infused dress caused a few explosions on the roof, all of which the older woman, that Celene knew as Glynda Goodwitch, dodged. She manipulated the pieces of the burned roof and turned them into a spear, which she launched at the bullhead.

The woman with the red dress and conveniently shadowed face who Celene knew as Cinder Fall, shot a large wave of fire that completely destroyed the spear. Ruby had finally gotten up, and she started firing dust rounds at Cinder, who blocked all of them with her aura. The bullhead turned around, and took off.

Ruby stared incredulously at Glynda before stating "You're a huntress." Celene mentally face palmed at what Ruby was about to say next. "Can I have your autograph?!"

Celene found herself in a dark room, sitting next to the red cloaked girl while Ms. Goodwitch lectured the both of them. Celene was mostly ignoring what Glynda said, and instead trying to remember every detail of the RWBY animation series. She was snapped out of her reminiscing when Glynda smacked her with her riding crop and she didn't dodge it. "There is someone here who would like to meet you." The woman said. _Ozpin..._ Celene immediately thought.

A gray haired man walked through the door, holding a plate of cookies, and a coffee mug. He stepped up to Ruby and said, "Ruby Rose... You have Silver eyes." Ruby was confused. Celene wasn't, although she wouldn't tell THEM that. He held up a video monitor, which was replaying Ruby's fight. He paused it just before it got to the part where Celene jumped in. "Where did you learn to do this?" Ruby stuttered something, but Celene tuned the rest of it out. She did grab a cookie when Ozpin put the plate down though. Finally, he dismissed Ruby, and turned to her. She immediately snapped out of her trance. A quick glance around the room showed that Glynda had also left.

"I don't believe I've ever seen you around here Miss..." He trailed off waiting for Celene to give her name.

 _Well, I can't tell him my name is Celene, it'll sound weird to him. I should make my name here in Remnant a color._ A strand of her dark brown hair caught her eye, and decided on a shade of brown. "Ochre." She shyly said. And Ozpin nodded before continuing.

"Miss Ochre, there are no records of you, and I've certainly never seen you around Patch or Vale before." Celene was about to say something before he continued, but he held his hand up, stopping her. "However, the way you fought showed a mastery of the martial arts, and stopping to help Miss Rose shows that you are an honest person." Celene tilted her head slightly as if to say 'Get to the point.' "I'm offering you a spot at Beacon Academy, which is a school to train Huntsman and Huntresses to fight the creatures of Grimm." Celene's eyes lit up. "I just need to know your age, and last name."

She thought for a minute. The name just pooped into her head. Her mother's favorite flowers: Zinnias. "Z-zinnia. And also, how many days are there in a year?" She asked. "Ozpin looked at her curiously. " A full year is typically 310 days why do you ask?" _Okay so 365 times 14 divided by 310 is... Rounds off to..._ "16. I'm 16." She tells the headmaster.

Ozpin smiles warmly. "Thank you Ms. Ochre. A bullhead will come by tomorrow to pick up any students going to Beacon from Patch. I will see you and Miss Rose at Beacon." And with that he left.

Celene sat there for a moment, trying to take it all in. She was going to Beacon. _She_ was going to Beacon. She was going to _Beacon_. As in, where Team RWBY and JNPR will form. Where Cinder and Salem were going to start their plan of taking down the four kingdoms.

This is her chance to fix everything. She could possibly stop the Fall of Beacon from ever happening!

Having not even been in Remnant for a day, Celene was going to Beacon, where she would do everything within her power to stop Cinder.

How she was going to do it? Well, she'd cross that bridge when she got there.

But things were starting to look up for her, and she was ready to take on whatever this world had to throw at her.

She ran out the door, ready to start her new life in Remnant.

* * *

 **A/n**

 **Just thought it'd be important to know that in** **this fanfic, Signal Academy is on Patch and Beacon is in Vale**.


	3. Beacon

**Chapter 2**

"I can't believe my little sister is going to Beacon with me!" The blond girl, Yang said as she squeezed her little sister, Ruby, to death. As adorable as it was, Celene, now Ochre tuned it out in favor of having a flash back to last night. She caught up with Ruby and initiated a conversation with her. They talked for quite a while, and Celene had convinced Ruby to let her stay for the night. They could walk to the bullhead together the next day.

Ochre had gotten reintroduced to Yang and Taiyang. Both were also okay with her staying over for the night. Taiyang had been very hospitable. The next morning, they had all walked to the bullhead together. And now they were on said bullhead, and on their way to Beacon.

Ochre walked over to a seat, and pulled out her book. Not long after, Ruby had come up next to her asking what the book was about. Ochre marked the page and closed the book. "It's called Clan of The Cave Bear." She shows the cover and begins to explain what the book is about. Ruby seems interested, and before long, Yang has joined the two of them.

The blond boy that Yang had nicknamed 'Vomit boy,' who Ochre knew as Juane, walked past while clutching his stomach, trying to find a garbage can. Ruby started yelling at Yang about puke on her shoe, but Ochre tuned it out as best as she could and continued to read her book. Having already known what they were going to say, the brunette tuned out all their conversations until the bullhead landed near Beacon.

She followed behind Ruby as the three students exited the Bullhead. The three girls marveled at the school. Ruby and Yang argued about weapons while Ochre scanned the crowd to see if she could spot anyone familiar. She saw Weiss pulling her cart up behind Ruby, just as Yang ran away with her friends. Ochre caught Ruby before she could fall over, and pulled her back upright. Weiss walked by, undisturbed.

"Hey Ruby." Ochre got her attention. "Maybe you should go talk to her. Y'know, make another friend." Ruby thought it was a good idea and went to talk to Weiss. She seemed pretty awkward at first, but their conversation started to pick up. Then Weiss insulted Ruby for who knows what, and Blake stepped in. Ochre left those three to go find the entrance hall. _Ruby can handle herself,_ she tried to convince herself that it was true.

Finally, Ruby came into the entrance hall. Ochre waved to get her attention. The brown haired girl had easily found Yang, as the blond had really stood out in the crowd. The entrance ceremony went off without a hitch. Like earlier, Ochre had tuned out most of it, having already known what was going to be said. When it was over, she followed Yang and Ruby around until it was time for bed.

Ochre was snug in the sleeping bag that she had borrowed. She watched Ruby go over to Blake and start interacting with her, expecting them to come out of that as friends. What she didn't expect was Ruby dragging Blake over to her spot, and stating that they were both bookworms and that they would get along great. Blake reluctantly sat down next to Ochre. "Blake." The black haired girl said and held her hand out to shake. "Ochre." The brown haired girl replied. They shook hands.

Ruby walked back over to Yang who watched Blake and Ochre talk about their books.

The blond haired girl was staring at Ochre. Ruby noticed this and asked Yang what was wrong.

"Ruby, have you noticed anything, off, about Ochre?" The blond asked her little sister. Ruby just had a confused look on her face. But she told her sister that Ochre seemed normal to her. "Besides, she helped me stop that robbery so she can't be bad."

Yang nodded at this, a bit of her suspicion subsiding. But she just couldn't get rid of the feeling that Ochre wasn't exactly who she had said she was...

Blake got up and went back to her spot in the corner. Ochre put her book away and slid into her sleeping bag. She pulled her seeping mask down over her eyes and lay very still. Ruby and Yang soon followed suite.

 **The Next Day...**

A small *yawn* left Ochre's mouth as her eyelids fluttered open. She pulled her mask up onto her forehead and sat up. A quick glance to her side showed that Goldilocks and Little Red Riding Hood were still asleep. She ran her hand down Ruby's back a few times to wake her up. The red tipped black haired girl yawned and sat up. "Good morning Ruby." Ochre said. The brown haired girl stood up and offered a hand to help Ruby up.

When they were both standing, Ochre rolled up her sleeping bag, her book and sleeping mask rolled up with it. She started to wander towards the locker rooms.

Ruby looked upset. "Where are you going?" She asked nervously. Ochre turned back to the smaller girl and told her that she was going to the locker rooms to put her stuff away. "Wanna come with?" She asked. Ruby nodded and went to follow. "Wait, what about Yang?" She asked. Ochre turned around again and told her that she could wake the blond up if she wanted. "I'll meet up with you two in the locker room."

She walked into the room, passing Jaune who seemed to be lost. "There's no way I put my gear in locker 636! I would have remembered having to count that high!" Ochre walked up to him and said "Hello." Juane's head snapped up, surprised. He looked at the brown haired brown eyed girl in front of him.

"You seem to be lost" she stated. "Y-yeah." He nervously stuttered. "I'm looking for locker 636." The girl looked around and pointed. "It'll be in that direction." He thanked her and told her his name. "My name's Juane." He said. "I'm Ochre." The girl replied and held out her hand. He took it and shook, then started walking in the direction that Ochre pointed. She turned to find her own locker just as he reached Pyrrha and Weiss.

Ruby and Yang soon came into the locker room and found their lockers, which, were coincidentally, right next to Ochre's. Ruby and Yang started arguing about teams, which Ochre tuned out as she got dressed. Ruby yelling, "I don't need to break out my shell!" Broke her out of her reverie. She turned around and responded, "Actually Ruby, you kinda do." Ruby turned toward Ochre, an upset expression on her face. She said in a whiny voice "Ochre not you too!" All she got was an apologetic shrug of the shoulders from said girl. Yang quickly changed the subject by suggesting they go get breakfast. Luckily, this worked and they headed in the direction of the cafeteria. Ochre turned around to see Juane pinned to the locker with Pyrrha's spear. "Sorry!" The redhead called back as she left. Ochre smiled and went to follow Yang and Ruby.

They sat down and dug into their breakfast. Ruby's mostly consisted of cookies and strawberries. Ochre couldn't even identify what Yang was eating. Her own plate had some toast and scrambled eggs. An orange haired girl started energetically jumping around another boy who was calmly eating his breakfast.

Ochre immediately recognized the pair. _Nora and Ren._ Then she thought of the ship name for those two. _Renora._ She giggled to herself. If only those two knew how much the fandom shipped them. Ruby asked her what was so funny, with a mouth half full of food. "Don't talk with your mouth full." Ochre reprimanded. "And to answer your question, look at those two. Don't you think they would make a cute couple?" She gestured to Ren and Nora. Ruby tilted her head slightly, thinking about it. "I dnno. I gss they wd make a gd couple." She said with a mouth full of food. Ochre was about to reprimand her again, but she quickly swallowed and apologized.

An announcement rang throughout the halls. " _Will all first years make their way to the cliff for initiation._ " And then it was quiet. Ochre, Ruby and Yang quickly scarfed down their food. and started to walk towards the cliff. Ochre turned around and said "I'll meet you guys there. I just have to get something first." The sisters nodded and continued onward.

Upon getting there, Ruby said, "See Yang? Ochre's a really nice person. I don't know why you doubted her." Yang nodded, only half listening as Professor Ozpin had started speaking as well. The speech finished, and Ochre joined them on the cliff. There was a small bulge underneath her shirt, suggesting she had something tucked there. She took her place on the launch pads next to Yang.

"Hey Yang?" The brunette asked. The blonde turned to face Ochre. "Do you know how to land correctly?"

Yang seemed kinda surprised. "You don't have a landing strategy?" All she got was a frantic nod 'no'. "Hmm... Maybe try swinging off the trees?"

Ochre visibly relaxed. "Thanks Yang. I'll try that." She faced the edge of the cliff, but Yang didn't take her eye off the girl. Again, she got that feeling that Ochre wasn't who she said she was, but she temporarily dismissed the thought as Ozpin started launching students.

A nervous Jaune started questioning Ozpin as more students were launched. Yang put on sunglasses as she was launched. Then, Ochre was launched through the air after her. She didn't get too high, but she could just see where the temple was. She started going in a downwards arc and almost slammed into a tree, but at the last minute she grabbed a branch.

The momentum swung her off the branch and onto the ground. She immediately stood up, rubbing her sore butt and arm. Luckily she had slowed herself down enough to prevent taking any serious damage.

The brunette pulled out the knife she had taken from the kitchen, and started walking in the direction she knew the temple would be in. She just hoped she wouldn't run into any beowolves along the way.


	4. Snow White

**Chapter 3**

"Hello partner!" Ruby exclaimed. The white haired heiress sighed in exasperation. She had not expected to have to be partnered up with the little girl that had tried talking with her the day before, but she also didn't have any real problems with it. She had just met her yesterday after all.

"We should start heading towards the ruins." Weiss told her partner. The red cloaked girl nodded and followed the heiress, even though she really had no idea of where the ruins were.

A rustling from the nearby bushes put both girls on guard. They stood facing the bush, their weapons out and ready to slice through any attacking Grimm. The person who had caused the rustling heard the sounds of their weapons, and so walked out with her hands up, exclaiming "Hold on I'm not a Grimm!"

Weiss lowered her Myrtenaster and stood there, confused. Ruby folded and put away her scythe, smiling. She shouted "Hey Ochre!" And ran over to the brunette. Weiss just stood there bewildered. "You know her?" She asked Ruby. Ochre didn't even have time to blink before the red cloaked girl was on her, hugging her tight. She returned the hug, and waved to Weiss, who came over to her as well.

"I'm sorry, Ochre was it? But me and Ruby are already partners." The heiress points out. Said girl faces the heiress and replies "Yeah, I can see that. Um... Would it be okay if I went with you guys until I find someone else without a partner?" Weiss thought about it for a minute while Ruby whispered " _Please say yes Weiss. Please say yes._ " Finally, the white haired girl looked up at Ochre. "Yeah, I suppose that's fine. After all there is safety in numbers." Ruby sqealed joyfully, and Ochre smiled warmly. Weiss started to lead them toward the ruins, but...

"Um Weiss... The temple is in _that_ direction." Ochre pointed in the opposite direction that Weiss was going. The heiress blushed and stammered as she tried to cover up her mistake. Ochre muttered " _Someone had control issues growing up..._ " Unfortunately, Weiss heard this and started yelling indignantly, which Ochre tuned out as she led the way towards the ruins.

They couldn't have been walking for more than a few minutes before they heard more rustling bushes. The three huntresses in training stood back to back, ready to take on the threat. Weiss and Ruby took out their respective weapons. Myrtenaster and Crescent Rose reflected the sunlight, leaving an awe struck Ochre just standing there, mouth agape.

Weiss glared at the brunette. She whisper yelled "What are you doing?! Don't just stand there! Take your weapon out or something!" Ochre snapped out of her reverie and got in a ready stance, facing towards one of the rustling bushes.

Finally, the things that were causing the bushes to rustle stepped out and confronted the girls. A small pack of beowolves. Their otherworldly red eyes glowed as they stared down their prey. Ruby and Weiss stood fearlessly, confidently, their weapons at the ready. Meanwhile, Ochre stood in a ready stance seemingly confident, but on the inside, she was trembling. For, as many times as she had seen the creatures of Grimm through her tablet screen, it did nothing to prepare her for a fight against a real, live one.

The four beowolves stared solely at Ochre, no doubt sensing her fear. And they begun to advance, circling their prey, sizing them up, waiting for the right moment to strike.

At last, one of them pounced, right into a slash from Ruby's scythe. Weiss prepared a glyph, and charged, impaling another. Ruby's Crescent Rose took care of the third.

While this was happening, Ochre ran at the fourth. She pulled out the knife she had taken from the kitchen, and held it in front of her as she ran. The Beowolf swung when she got close enough, and she twisted her body to the side, avoiding the claws. She slashed at the arm, and kicked the beowolf off balance. She then stabbed it in its head, but before it could die, it made a last attempt at injuring her by once more slashing at her with its claws. All she could do was step back, but she couldn't fully avoid the claw. As she had no aura, one of the claws scratched her chin, leaving a small cut there. The Beowolf then promptly evaporated.

The three girls turned toward each other. Hearing no more Grimm anywhere around them, they took a moment to rest, and to figure out which direction to go. "Does anyone remember what direction we were going in before the fight started?" Weiss asked. Both Ochre and Ruby nodded 'no'. Weiss stomped around, trying to figure out where they had to go.

"Its this way!" She walked off to the right. Then she turned around and walked to the left. "No its this way!" She walked back to Ruby, who was examining a leaf. "Okay its official. We passed it." She stated, sounding unsure. Ruby wasn't fooled. "Why can't you just admit that you have no idea where we're going?" Weiss snapped back, "Oh be quiet! You don't know where we're going either!" Then a thought occurred. "Hey wait a minute... Where's Ochre?"

Almost immediately after she said that, the brunette landed in between them. This surprised both of them, but Weiss quickly recovered. She started screeching at Ochre, wanting to know where she'd gone. The moment she stopped speaking, the brunette launched into an explanation. "I climbed a tree and got up high enough to see that the forest temple is in that direction." And she pointed due North. She and Ruby walked away from the heiress. Needless to say, she didn't like being left behind, and she quickly followed her partner and her partner's friend.

Ochre looked back to see Weiss looking upset, so she slowed her pace until she was walking right next to the heiress. Said girl barely acknowledged her presence, so she tried to start a conversation. "Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company huh?" She awkwardly said. Weiss stiffly looked up at Ochre. "Yeah..." She trailed off.

Finally, they came into a clearing. A large open field ending with a cliff, and a kind of gazebo lookin' thing. "Those are the ruins!" Ruby excitedly yelled. Then she zipped off towards them. Ochre and Weiss followed, though more slowly.

Upon getting closer, they could see more people inside the ruins, and they could see pedestals with what must have been the relics. Ruby had already grabbed one, so they turned towards the two people in the ruins.

Ruby zipped over to Yang and started squeezing. Yang was obviously happy to see her sister, but she was also happy to see Ochre. "So Ruby, is Ochre your partner?" Weiss walked over and told Yang who Ruby's partner was. But Yang was confused as to who Ochre's partner was.

"I uh... Don't have a partner yet." Ochre said I response to Yang's unasked question. She turned around and tuned out Yang and Weiss's conversation. Watching the edge of the forest, she searched for any signs of Pyrrha or Nora or Jaune. A loud, high -pitched scream was heard.

Finally, a large Ursa lumbered into the clearing, then immediately collapsed on itself. A girl jumped off from it and exclaimed her disappointment. Another boy climbed off the Ursa and exclaimed his disapproval. Both made their way to the temple to pick up a chess piece.

A blond haired boy flew through the air and crashed into a tree. A red haired girl came out of the forest being chased by a humongous scorpion.

All completely normal in the World of Remnant.

Ruby was about to run to face the deathstalker, but Ochre grabbed the hood of her cloak, stopping her from moving. "What are you doing Ochre?! Lemme Go!" Ruby yelled. The brunette pulled her until they were facing each another. "Going out there by yourself is suicide. There's no way you are going to be able to beat a humongous Deathstalker and Nevermore without help." She glared into Ruby's silver eyes, and the younger girl knew not argue.

The whole group had heard what she said, but only Blake asked the question. "What do you mean? There isn't a Nevermore out there." The black haired girl stated

As if on cue, they all heard a loud cawing, and few feathers fell down from high up in the sky. They could all clearly see the humongous Nevermore circling above the ruins. "I guess there is now." Ren pointed out. Yang narrowed her eyes at Ochre. _How did she know the nevermore was gonna be there?_ Again, that feeling that Ochre wasn't exactly who she said she was.

Weiss fired some of her ice dust at the deathstalker, freezing it in place. She and Ruby convinced the rest of team RWBY and JNPR that they didn't need to fight, and so they all ran away from the Grimm.

They took shelter behind the ruins of some huge building. Nora fired grenades at the nevermore, and the deathstalker started chasing everyone towards the far cliffs. They reached a bridge across a humongous chasm that was too small for the deathstalker to follow. But the nevermore could still attack and charged headfirst for the bridge, breaking it down the middle. Now Team JNPR was separated from team RWBY, with Ochre on team JNPRs side.

She got into a ready stance, and pulled out her knife. The deathstalker was 5 times her size and probably 10 times the weight of all of Team JNPR, but she wasn't going down without a fight.


	5. A Grimm, a Deathstalker, and a Nevermore

Team JNPR was just holding off the Deathstalker, while Ochre slashed at its joints wherever she could. She stopped for a moment to glance at what team RWBY was doing. They were shooting dust, bullets and various projectiles at the Nevermore, but it wasn't doing anything.

 _Well, Ruby's gonna come up with that awesome plan, and it'll all be fine. I should focus on helping team JNPR_.

She started humming a tune as she hacked and slashed and kicked the deathstalker, effectively distracting it. Ren safely jumped down, Pyrrha threw her shield, severing the stinger from the tail. And Nora hammered the stinger deep inside the Deathstalker's skull, killing it. Their battle done, they all turned to watch team RWBY's battle. Ochre started singing the actual words of the song.

 _"Couldn't take it couldn't stand another minute._

 _Couldn't bear another day without you in it._

 _All of the joy that I had known for all my life_

 _Was stripped away from me the minute that you died_

 _To have you in my life was all I ever wanted_

 _But now without you I'm a soul forever haunted._

 _Can't help but feel that I had taken you for granted_

 _No way in hell that I can ever comprehend this."_

Yang jumped onto the Nevermore's head, and started shooting ammo into the thing's mouth. It crashed into the cliff, disoriented. And Weiss froze it's body to the cliff.

 _"I wasn't dreaming when they told me you were gone_

 _I was wide awake and feeling that they had to be wrong_

 _How could you leave me when you swore that you would stay_

 _Now I'm trapped inside a nightmare every single f'ing day."_

JNPR vaguely wondered who Ochre was singing for. Herself? A friend? A loved one? They didn't think about it too much though, as they were in a trance watching the fight and hearing the song. Somehow, the lyrics lined up perfectly with the battle.

 _"Its like a movie but there's not a happy ending_

 _The scene fades black and there's no pretending_

 _This little fairytale doesn't seem to end well_

 _There's no Knight in shining armor who will wake me from the spell._

 _I know you didn't plan this,_

 _You tried to do what's right_

 _But in the middle of this madness_

 _I'm the one (I'm the one) (I'm the one)_

 _Left to win this fight"_

Blake threw her gambol shroud to Yang, who held it to the pillar. Ruby hopped onto it and Weiss made a glyph to hold the slingshot in place.

 _"Red like Roses_

 _Fills my head with dreams and finds me"_

Ruby is shot towards the cliff. Her scythe wraps around the Nevermore's neck, and Weiss makes a line of glyphs going up the cliff. With help from her gun's recoil, she runs up the cliff, dragging the Nevermore with her.

 _"Always closer_

 _To the emptiness and sadness_

 _That has come to take the place_

Ruby reaches the top of the cliff and her scythe rips the Nevermore's head from the rest of its body.

 _Of You!"_

She stands at the top of the cliff, her cape flowing in the breeze. Scythe held behind her back, its blade peeking out from behind her. Rose petals dance around her figure, and the body of a gigantic bird falls down into the ditch. All eight students stare in awe at the scene before them, and the song that went perfectly with the battle.

But they have to get back to the school to finish Initiation.

 **Later...**

Ochre tuned out most of the ceremony, although she kept an ear out for her name being called. It wasn't. Teams RWBY and JNPR were formed though. She was brought to Ozpin's office directly after the ceremony.

 _Uh oh... This can't be anything good._

She rode up the elevator with Ms. Glynda, and then the teacher left without her. Ozpin gestured to a seat in front of the desk. Ochre nervously sits down, awaiting her fate.

For a moment, the headmaster only stares at the brunette, but finally, he speaks. "Miss Zinnia. Do you know why you are sitting in my office today?" Ochre thought to herself. _I have a good guess why._ before answering. "I, um, I didn't find a partner in the Emerald Forest..."

Ozpin continued. "Every year we have twenty teams of four enroll in this school. I purposefully make sure the numbers evenly divide up. This year however, I have made a mistake. We have one student without a team. Every year, I expel the students who can't form teams." Ochre's eyes widened in realization. _Is this it for me?_ "And this is how I've done it for years. But this year, I am going to make an exception." He was smiling.

 _Huh?_

"Since you work well with both teams RWBY and JNPR, I am going to give you a choice as to which team you will join."

 _Wait... Really!? This is really happening isn't it? Or am I dreaming. She pinched herself. Owch, that hurt. Well, I guess this isn't a dream. Good to know. Now, who do I choose? RWBY or JNPR. RWBY or JNPR._

Ozpin watched, and listened as Miss. Zinnia muttered to herself. Then he heard something interesting.

 _"...On one hand, if I go with team JNPR, I can try to speed along the Arcos and Rennora ships. Maybe I can even stop Cardin from blackmailing Jaune. But on the other hand, if I go with team RWBY, I can help work out Ruby and Weiss's issues with each other. Maybe I can help Blake with revealing herself at the right time. And besides, Ruby's my friend..."_

"I think I've decided, headmaster." She said louder. Ozpin nodded for her to continue. "I want to join Team RWBY." She looked up at him with a hardened resolve. He smiled, told her team RWBY's room number, and dismissed her. She walked to the elevator, and descended back to the ground floor.

Ozpin sat in his chair, relaxed and ready for a new year of students to train. But he just had to wonder, what had she meant when she said _'I won't have to worry about Cinder until Volume two'_ ?


	6. Snow Queen

**Chapter 5**

When she got to the room last night, all the members of Team RWBY were fast asleep. Ochre couldn't blame them, it had been a long day. She silently set up her sleeping bag on the floor, slid inside, put her deer mask on, and drifted off.

 **Time skip brought to you by Chibi Ochre reading a book with Blake.**

The sound of a whistle being blown is near deafening. Ochre immediately sits up and clutches her ears. A few moans of pain escape her mouth, and the whole team crowds around her, both confused and concerned. Except for Weiss and Ruby. The former having fallen on the ground, and the latter spewing out apologies. After ensuring that Ochre is okay, she tells them that Ozpin let her stay, and that she could have chosen between Teams RWBY and JNPR. "And I obviously chose Team RWBY!" The brunette happily exclaimed.

Ruby quickly called the attention back to her. "Now that everyone's up we can officially begin our first order of business." Yang shouted "Decorating!" This confused Weiss, but Blake answered her unasked question. "We still have to unpack." The suitcase she was holding popped open and dumped it's contents on the floor. "And clean..." She added in.

The red cloaked girl blew the whistle again, causing Weiss to fall over again and Ochre's ears to ring. "Ruby..." She painfully moaned while gripping her ears. Their leader seemed to get the message and put the whistle away.

"Okay Weiss, Blake, Yang, Ochre and their fearless leader Ruby have begun their first mission. Banzai!" Yang and Blake joined in when she said Banzai. Ochre saw Weiss's aggravated expression and decided to fan the flames, if only to extinguish them later. "Banzai!" She called, while the other three girl's hands were still up.

Weiss definitely didn't want to spend her morning unpacking, but she was outnumbered. She reluctantly started taking her stuff out.

They had been putting up posters and paintings and curtains, and putting books in the shelves for awhile. Yang was the first to finish, and she noticed that Ochre had just been sitting there. She walked up to her. "So, how come you aren't unpacking?" She asked the brunette. Her brown eyes stopped scanning the page. "I... just didn't have a lot to unpack..." She awkwardly trailed off. "Oh." The blond walked away. Ochre's muscles relaxed. She didn't want to have to explain much to the team. _If I told them I came from an alternate universe they would think I'm crazy. I don't exactly have a way to prove it..._ She went back to reading.

When everyone was done unpacking, they stood near the door to admire their work. It looked great... Except for the beds haphazardly thrown in the middle of the room. "This isn't going to work..." Weiss said. "It is a little cramped..." Blake pointed out. Yang suggested "Maybe we should ditch some of our stuff." "Or we could ditch the beds... And replace them with bunk beds!" Ruby happily exclaimed. Weiss wasn't happy with that suggestion. "That sounds incredibly dangerous." "And super awesome!" Yang yelled. "It does seem efficient." Blake added in helpfully. Weiss looked at Ochre hoping the brunette would take her side.

All she got was a shrug from Ochre. But the rest of the girls took it as agreement. So they ran over to the pile of beds, and started turning them into bunk beds. Ochre got up to help, but she stopped and got everyone's attention at 8:50. "Hey, guys, don't classes start at 9?" She asked the rest of the team.

They all ran out the door, leaving a cloud of dust. Ochre glanced around, surprised to find the room suddenly empty, and went outside to start walking to class. She knocked on team JNPR's room. Juane was the one to answer the door. "Oh, hey Ochre." He said. She smiled and proceeded to tell him that classes were going to start soon. "If you don't want to be late, you and your team had better get going."She walked away, and heeding her advice, Juane got the rest of his team to start heading to class.

Ochre walked into the classroom, to see the rest of Team RWBY sitting n their seats. She sat in between Weiss and Ruby. To Ruby she asked, "Why did you leave me behind?!" Unfortunately, the teacher and team JNPR entered the room, so Ochre never got her answer.

 **A Few Minutes Later...**

(You can just skip this paragraph) "Monsters! Demons! Prowlers of the night. Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names. But _I_ merely refer to them as prey." He pauses, as if to receive applause, but all anyone can hear are the crickets. And Ruby waking up, as she was sleeping just a second ago... Professor Port clears his throat and continues. "And you shall too upon graduating from this prestigious academy." Now as I was saying, Vale, along with the other four kingdoms are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world. Our planet is filled with things that would just love to rip you to shreds. And that's where we come in. Huntsmen, Huntresses, individuals who have sworn to protect those that cannot protect themselves. From what you ask? Well, the very world! "Some random student in the background yells "Eyyy-yeah!" The professor continues. "That is what you are all training to become. But first, a story."

Ochreis viscously tapping her foot on the desk, waiting for class to be over. All she can hear from Port is a faded "Blah, blah, blah" while she is lost in her own musings. Ruby starts drawing something next to her. When The Silver eyed girl is finished, she holds up a very badly drawn Professor Port. This gets a snicker out of Yang and Ochre, but Weiss just narrows her eyes in anger. The professor _finally_ finishes his story, and goes on to tell what a true huntsman/huntress is. "A true huntsman must be honorable." Ruby can be seen balancing an apple on a piece of paper on a pencil on her finger. Ochre is rather impressed by this, but Weiss is just livid. "A true huntsman must be dependable." The professor says. Ochre quickly shakes Ruby awake before Weiss and the teacher can see her sleeping. "A true Huntsman must be strategic, well educated, and wise." Ruby starts picking her nose, which Weiss sees, and it makes her angrier knowing the younger girl isn't paying attention. Ochre sees her face turning red, and the heiresses body starts trembling. She shakes Weiss's shoulder to get her attention. "What?!" The ice-queen quietly asks as she focuses on Ochre, all her anger now directed at the brunette.

Ochre directs her own glare at Weiss while saying, "Calm down! You're going to burst a blood vessel!" The brunette realized how harsh her voice sounded, and softened her tone at the last second, in an attempt to show Weiss that she's trying to help, but her words do little to soothe the seething heiress. When Port asks for a volunteer to prove that they have all the traits of a true huntsman, Weiss raises her hand in an instant. Port picks her, and she changes in the changing room. When she comes back out, she is in her combat gear.

Both Blake and Yang send encouraging words her way, but when Ruby tries to do the same, she is shot down by the heiress. Ochre doesn't like this, but stays quiet for the time being. She sees Ruby looking dejected, and speaks to the girl in a soft, patient voice. "Hey, don't worry. She's just in a bad mood. It'll pass." _At least, it probably will after Port talk to her..._ "Just let her concentrate on the match for now." The red cloaked girl nodded and watched her partner dance around the Boarbatusk.

She charged at the Grimm, and got her sword thrown away by the creature's tusks. _Huh._ Celene thought. _That was gonna happen anyway._

Weiss jumped to the side of the charging boarbatusk, and grabbed her rapier. In the time it took for the boarbatusk to crash into the wall and turn around, Ruby had yelled "Go for the belly, Weiss!" The snow queen's response was something like it was something like "Don't tell me what to do!" Ruby shrunk back in her seat. Weiss went back to focusing on the Grimm, which was preparing to charge again. As it rolled towards her, she summoned a glyph, which it crashed into. The boarbatusk landed on it's back, and Weiss promptly stabbed it in the stomach. The thing stopped squirming, and the body started to evaporate.

Weiss stood up, panting. She was obviously tired. _After killing one boarbatusk?_ Ochre thought to herself. The teacher called out, "Bravo! We are clearly in the presence of a _true_ huntress in training." Ochre whispered to Ruby, Yang and Blake, "Aren't we in a room _full_ of huntsman and huntresses in training?" They smiled and nodded in agreement. Weiss walked away to the locker room to change. She still looked upset. She obviously didn't like being told what to do by Ruby. _Though_ _I'm sure she wouldn't have a problem telling anyone else what to do..._ Ochre bitterly thought to herself.

Watching the RWBY series, the brunette never liked Weiss in the first Volume. She had seemed like one of the stuck up spoiled brat characters that she so detested. Over time, the snow queen had forged a place for herself in the collective hearts of the fan base. But she couldn't have been the only person who had disliked Weiss's condescending attitude in the beginning of the series. The very same attitude that Weiss had now.

While lost in her musings, Ochre hadn't noticed Ruby running off to confront her partner. _Damn my ADD._ The brunette angrily thought. _I suppose it could be worse..._ She immediately ran off to find Ruby and Weiss. _  
_


	7. Iceflower

"You're supposed to be our leader, but all you've been so far is a nuisance!"

"What did I do?!"

"That's just it. You've done nothing to earn your position."

"Weiss, where is this coming from? What about all that talk about working as a team?"

"Not a team led by you. I've studied, and trained, and quite frankly, I deserve better."

She turned and walked off, her heels clicking on the floor.

Ruby turned around to see Ochre standing there, a shocked look on the girl's face. As well as something else, anger, maybe?

She ran into the brunette's arms. "Ruby..?" The girl asked, surprised by the sudden embrace. Ruby looked up at Ochre with tears in her eyes.

"Do you think she's right, Ochre? Do you think Ozpin made a mistake?"

"...um..." A moment of awkward silence passed between them.

"Well, I can't say for certain, I'm pretty sure Ozpin didn't make a mistake. But it's only the first day, we have yet to see."

 _At least she stopped crying..._ She looked up at Ochre curiously.

"...Uhh, what I mean by that is...um..." _Great job Ochre..._ "You're a great leader Ruby. Especially when it comes to fighting. I think, what Weiss was mad about, was that you were slacking off in class." She looked in the direction the heiress had left in. "Now that you're a leader, Ruby, you have to be a good leader everywhere, not just in battle."

"Um... I think I get it. Thanks Ochre." She hugged the girl again, this time, Ochre was prepared for it. They held the embrace for a minute, before Ochre reminded them that they had classes.

* * *

Throughout the rest of the day's classes, Weiss was rather quiet. She answered the teacher's questions when asked of her, but didn't say a word to the rest of her team. Instead, she seemed to be thinking about something. _So... Port talked to her then?_ Ochre mused to herself.

Ruby was pretty quiet as well. Ochre would have been worried, but she knew they would talk it out later in the dorm. Yang and Blake kept shooting each other worried looks. They had no idea what was going on between Ruby and Weiss.

They asked Ochre what had happened. She just smiled and said that they shouldn't worry about it. The whole situation would be resolved soon.

When classes were _finally_ over, everyone gave a sigh of relief, except for Ochre. Who simply went to the dorm. A few minutes later, the team follows, to find the brunette on the floor already doing homework. Weiss nods approvingly, and leaves the room.

* * *

Both Yang and Blake are fast asleep when Weiss reenters the room later. Ruby is covered in blankets, a lamp on, illuminating the bed. Her covers are pulled off, by Weiss, a surprised look on the heiresses face as she saw the textbook and paper. She had been completely wrong about her leader slacking off.

She violently shakes Ruby awake after seeing the empty coffee mug. The silver eyed girl opens her eyes, and starts stuttering out apologies. Weiss covers her mouth and asks how Ruby takes her coffee. "Uh.. Cream and Five sugars!" Ruby tells her.

Weiss gives a cup of coffee to Ruby, and then apologizes for her treatment of the girl from earlier. She then says, "I think you have what it takes to be a good leader. Just know, that I am going to be the best teammate you will ever have." She finishes, with a genuine smile on her face. "Good luck studying." She climbs down.

"Oh, number 3 is wrong by the way." She then leaves the room.

She quietly closes the door behind her, turning around to find Ochre.

The brunette pulls her into a hug, whispering in her ear, _"I knew you weren't all that bad."_ She released the heiress, and went into the dorm room to sleep.

 _She shouldn't have been able to hear that. I was practically whispering._ Weiss told herself, as she walked away from the dorm room. But she didn't ponder it for long, simply dismissing it as Ochre having good hearing, or her speaking louder than she thought. She glanced back once at the room, happy that she had patched things up with her teammate.

* * *

The way Ruby and Weiss were acting as if nothing happened did not escape Yang and Blake's notice. If anything, they were acting as if they were friends, When they looked to Ochre for an answer, the girl simply chuckled, stating that she told them everything would be just fine.

 **A/N**

 **I know, its shorter than usual. Sorry bout that. I figured I should at least post so that the few readers I have don't think this fanfiction is already dead.**

 **So anyway, now that that's over, I can start to deviate from the canon a bit. Look forward to that!**


	8. Fight turned Friendship

Jaune slouched over panting heavily. He used his sword to prop himself up. He could barely keep his shield arm raised as he charged at Cardin, sword raised for a swing. Cardin reacted by moving to the side, swinging his weapon. Jaune's shield was thrown away.

The blond knight turned around, charging Cardin again, to which the boy responded by catching the swing with his mace, easily overpowering the Jaune.

"This is the part where you lose." He said, easily pushing Jaune's sword away. Jaune defiantly responded, "Over my dead bo-" But was cut off by Cardin kneeing him in the stomach. He slumped over, clutching his sword for dear life, and Cardin went in for the kill.

A buzzer rang out, and the lights above them switched off, signaling the end of the match.

Glynda Goodwitch stepped in between the two boys, gesturing to Jaune's aura bar, which was red and depleted.

"As you can see class, Mr. Arc's aura has dropped into the red. In a tournament style duel, this would indicate that Juane is no longer fit for battle, and that the official may call the match."

She looked at Jaune, who was still slumped on the ground, exhausted. "Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now. Please try to refer to your scroll during combat. Guaging your aura will help you to decide when to attack, or when it is better to move to a more... defensive strategy."

Jaune finally checked his scroll, to see that his aura was depleted and red. Which had already been established. _Well, better late than never I guess..._ Ochre mused.

"We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a beowolf, now would we?" Glynda said. "Speak for yourself." Cardin muttered. He shouldered his mace and walked off the stage. Ochre glared daggers at him.

Still, that comment about a few weeks having passed reminded her of how long she had been there. A small pang of homesickness wound it's way through her body, but she ignored it in favor of continuing to glare at Cardin for his poorly masked hostility towards Jaune.

"Now class, we have time for one more match. Will anyone volunteer?"

Yang looked thoughtful for a moment, and if anyone had been paying attention, they would have seen her glance to Ochre. She raised her hand.

"Yes Ms Xiao Long. Please pick your opponent."

The blond nodded as if in thought. "Alright, I wanna fight... Ochre."

Said girl glanced up when she heard her name being spoken. "Huh?" She asked, a confused expression on her face. Tuning things out helped when she had heard it all before, but this was completely new.

"Well, Ms. Zinnia, do you accept the challenge?"

She still had that confused look on her face. "Challenged by who?"

"By me." Yang declared.

Ochre looked at Yang with disbelief written on her face, but if someone had been paying close attention, they would have seen something else, hidden if one wasn't specifically looking for it. Fear.

The brunette could actually hear people whispering about how epic the fight would be, _if_ she actually accepted.

Another group of people were whispering about how they wouldn't blame her if she declined. No one had yet to actually beat Yang.

Suppressing her fear, as she had done with pretty much _all_ surges of negative emotions, she said "I accept." She had to fight to stop her voice from wavering. A couple of people looked at her like she was crazy. Some looked excited. Ruby, and Weiss looked at her worriedly. Blake even more so.

She was pretty good at reading emotions, and she had seen the brief flash of fear in the girl's expression. She also noticed the practically healed cut on her face that had looked like it was put there during Initiation. Ruby and Weiss had talked about how easy the initiation had been, save for the Deathstalker and Nevermore fight. Ochre told her and Yang that she had been with their leader and her partner during the whole thing.

If the two had easily gotten through the forest without too much fighting, then Ochre wouldn't have run into anything that would deplete her aura to the point that she would sustain injuries.

On the rare possibility that she had gotten to that point, her aura would have quickly healed the cut when it regenerated. It healed slowly like it would with someone who didn't have an aura.

Which begged the question, _Does Ochre even have her aura unlocked?_

She would have to ask the girl later.

For now though, she would have to see how Ochre fares in this fight. Yang would hold back at first, probably. But if Ochre gets her angry, she's gonna have a bad time.*

Ochre and Yang entered the arena from different sides. Yang standing there in all her glory, A cocky smirk on her face. Meanwhile, Ochre tried her best not to shake in her boots. She attempted to put up her usual facade of confidence. It seemed to fool Yang, anyways.

The blond stretched her arms, and cracked her knuckles, before deploying her gauntlets. She got in a boxing stance.

Ochre took up her usual stance when she did karate. Feet apart, diagonal from each other. Hands up in a guard protecting her face. Knees bent slightly, right heel slightly off the floor to be able to move quickly.

Taking up the familiar stance somewhat put the brunette at ease. She had to remind herself that she knew more about Yang's fighting style than what Yang knew about hers. Which was essentially nothing.

Yang nodded her head, as if showing respect for the fact that the girl fought hand-to-hand like she did.

The buzzer rang, signaling the beginning of the match.

Yang immediately ran at the girl, firing her gun gauntlets to give her more momentum. She aimed a punch at Ochre's head, intending to finish this as quickly as possible.

Ochre's training immediately kicked in as she saw Yang running at her. A punch aimed at her head was easily dodged as she slightly moved her body to the side. Before Yang could pull her arm back in, she gripped it and spun around on her heels, bending her knees. Yang's momentum carried her over the girl's shoulders.

She violently slammed to the ground on her back, her arm ripped out of Ochre's grasp before she stood up, just in time to receive a kick to the gut.

She staggered backwards, but recovered quickly, her aura taking the brunt of the impact. She stepped in for another punch, which was again sidestepped.

Ochre got to the side of her that wasn't being defended by her other arm, and elbowed her face, hard. Yang's head snapped back, but again, she quickly recovered. In time to turn and launch another punch.

This one, Ochre couldn't dodge, but Yang hadn't put too much force behind it, as half of her body was twisted awkwardly. She landed it directly to the girl's chest, causing her to fly back a few yards. Yeah, she was that badly defended.

Yang took a moment to catch her breath and check her scroll.

Her aura was still in the green. But a few more good hits, and it would be in the yellow. _So, the girl has good reflexes, is good at dodging, but doesn't, or rather can't hit too hard._ Yang thought. Her semblance had barely turned on. While Ochre's aura...

Wasn't even there. Yep, the girl had no aura. At all. Where there should have been a bar gauging how much more damage she could take, there was nothing. This completely caught Yang off guard, to the point where she hadn't noticed said girl getting up, and coming closer, until someone whispered, " _hey_ " in her ear.

She turned around, only for her body to be violently thrown into the ground by another kick. This one had more force behind it. That sent her aura into the yellow.

She rolled to the side, as Ochre's foot crashed to the ground where she had been a moment before. She stood up, aiming an uppercut at the brunette's midsection, powered by her somewhat activated semblance. Ochre couldn't fully dodge it.

The punch only skimmed her side, but it still hurt like crazy. Ochre backed away, trying to get some distance between her and her opponent. Luckily, Yang needed a breather too, and so didn't immediately pursue. This gave the brunette time to come up with a plan.

She had to make it easier to dodge. She couldn't afford to get hit, and with every attack she successfully landed, Yang's punches hurt more. So she had to get Yang to start messing up, make careless mistakes. She could do that if the blond was tired, but with her aura only in the yellow, Yang had energy to spare. _So, how... wait, yeah, that might work! I'll have to be extra careful not to get hit, but it should be easier to dodge. She is rather hotheaded about that after all._

Yang had recovered, and decided to take the moment to attack while Ochre was still thinking. She didn't see the brunette silently take out her knife, and conceal it with her hands.

Yang ran up to her, arm extending in a punch, which Ochre dodged at the last second. Getting to the side of Yang where her head was wide open.

Yang didn't feel the blow land, but her head felt slightly lighter than before. She turned to see a lock of her golden hair in Ochre's outstretched hand.

This got exactly the reaction Ochre was hoping for. Yang stared at her outstretched hand, first, in disbelief. But it quickly turned to anger.

Her eyes shifted from a calm lilac to a boiling red. Flames flaring around her, hair practically glowing. She wasn't gonna be pulling any punches from here on out.

Just seeing Yang in the state she was in, made Ochre tremble a little. She was starting to regret this...

But there was no going back now.

She took up her stance, right heel angled away from the floor so she could push off it. Hands up near her face, guarding it, but not blocking her vision.

During the second that this was all happening, Ochre stood firm, never taking her eyes off her opponent. Not even when she charged.

* * *

 _I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL THE GIRL!_ Yang's thoughts screamed. _NO ONE TOUCHES MY HAIR!_ All she could see was red.

She blindly ran at Ochre, aiming a punch in her general direction. It didn't even hit it's target.

Ochre hadn't even moved, as Yang's punch was aimed to the side of her. The blond carried through with the punch, despite it missing it's target by a large margin. As her body leaned forward, Ochre viciously grabbed her burning shoulders, pulling her closer and kneeing her in the stomach. Causing the girl to grunt, and her aura to take a dip. Which of course, only made her angrier (if that was possible), and fueled her semblance a bit.

She hopped backwards, aiming another punch at Ochre, who easily sidestepped and got to Yang's unprotected side, kicking her. Another dip in her aura, which was also steadily decreasing from her semblance usage.

The blond twisted her body to aim a hook at Ochre, and this one, she didn't completely dodge.

It only grazed her side, much like one of Yang's earlier punches. But this hurt ten times more than before.

At first, all she felt was the heat. A pulse of warmth on her side, it was kind of nice, actually. Her body temperature had dropped a few degrees from her dread when Yang flared up.

Next came the pain. An explosion of pain on her side, starting from the spot where Yang hit her, and expanding outwards a little. On top of that, her finger's were starting to hurt from when she had grabbed Yang's shoulders.

She had to resist crying out from the near-miss of an attack. Either Yang was just that strong, or she was weak. It could have been a combination of both, though.

She couldn't move in time to dodge Yang's next punch. Luckily, it hit the side of her, but it was still more on target than before. She slammed against the wall, her back and head aching from the impact. Honestly, it was a miracle that she hadn't broken anything yet.

She struggled to balance, the whole arena starting to spin. She staggered forward a few feet. There were voices, multiple ones yelling something very loudly. They all sounded feminine.

All she could see was a yellow blur, but her reflexes kicked in nevertheless. She raised her right arm in a feeble attempt to block, only to have something hit it so hard that she went flying back into the wall again. This time twice as hard.

Everything was swirling, and her ears were ringing loudly. Murmured gurgles of people yelling, and someone angrily screaming registered in her disoriented brain. She tried to prop herself up on her arm, despite her exhausted condition. It wouldn't have been the first time she would've had to stand up when she was physically and mentally tired.

The cracking sound that came from her arm was completely new to her though.

More yelling, she could feel people running to her as she slumped on the ground, her arm hurting too much for her to use it.

When Ruby, Weiss, and Blake had gotten onto the stage and over to their teammate, she looked to be unconscious. Ms. Goodwitch had decided to step in a moment before, when Yang was about to charge again. She was holding the blond back with her semblance, and Yang seemed to finally be calming down.

When she fully calmed down, Ms. Goodwitch released her, and she sat on the ground. You could tell she was exhausted, she probably wanted nothing more than to rest. But she was staring at Ochre's unmoving form, horror painted on her face.

"I-is she okay?" Yang asked hesitantly. Ms Goodwitch walked over and checked her pulse. "She will be okay, but I called the medics over. They should be here in a few minutes."

She stepped away to give the rest of Team RWBY space. Her light-green eyes bored into Yang, and her speech was clipped with sternness."Ms. Xiao Long, in the future, please try to show more restraint. You could have seriously hurt Ms. Zinnia." _Considering that she doesn't have an aura, I'd be surprised if she wasn't injured. How did she even get into Beacon?_ She walked off to find Ozpin and ask him this.

Ruby and Weiss started yelling at Yang, asking why she went crazy like that, and that she could have seriously hurt their teammate.

"Please... don't be angry at her." Someone quietly said. Ruby and Yang looked in their direction to see that Ochre had somehow rolled onto her stomach, her eyes barely open.

"It was really my fault... for getting her riled up. I kinda knew that she was protective about her hair, but I did what I did anyways."

Then, her eyes closed, and her breathing deepened. She was asleep..?

Blake stayed by her, and was decidedly not glaring at her partner. Yang took a moment to glance at the screen.

Her aura gauge was in the red. Ochre's still wasn't there, showcasing the fact that she didn't have an aura. She had no extra protection, no extra power behind her attacks. But she had technically managed to beat Yang...

Who'd have thought.

* * *

"I'm sorry girls, but she hasn't recovered enough to have visitors." The woman at the desk informed Team RWBY. She looked apologetic, but that didn't stop Weiss and Ruby from continuing with trying to get in. Yang just stood there, looking guilty. Blake trying her best to comfort her partner.

Ozpin entered the infirmary, greeting the lady at the counter before noticing Team RWBY.

"Ms. Goodwitch filled me in. I assume you are here to make sure Ms. Zinnia is okay?" He asked.

"Yeah!" Ruby said. "But she won't let us in." She gestured to the lady at the counter.

Ozpin looked at the woman, a patient expression on his face, his demeanor calm.

"Mrs. Beryl, these are Ms. Zinnia's teammates. They simply want to make sure she is okay. Won't you let them see her?"

"...If you say so, Professor Ozpin. Come, I'll bring you to her room."

She led them away, Ozpin having decided that he would talk to Ochre after they left.

Mrs. Beryl brought them to their teammates room, then she left them to speak to her. The four girls entered the hospital wing, taking a quick look around. A window on the far wall let them look into the sunset. The bed on the left side of the room with the IV hooked up to it showed Ochre. But she was asleep.

"She looks so peaceful..." Ruby said to herself. " ..Perhaps we should come back later." Weiss suggested. She, Blake and Ruby left the room, the latter doing so more reluctantly. Blake turned back to see that Yang hadn't moved yet.

"I'll catch up with you guys in a moment." She said. Blake nodded in understanding and led the rest of Team RWBY out of the room.

Yang walked up to Ochre's bed. The girl appeared to be sleeping, but Yang knew better.

"I know you're awake." She informed the brunette. Ochre immediately opened her eyes and looked at Yang. "...hey." She quietly said. Her eyes refusing to meet the blond's.

Yang had a regretful look on her face. "Ochre, I am so, so sorry for completely losing it like that. I could have seriously hurt you a-" "You did seriously hurt me." Ochre cut her off.

With sudden bitterness in her voice, she listed off the injuries she had gotten. Her right arm was broken, in, like five places, her shoulder was dislocated. She had multiple second and third degree burns all over her body. She might have a concussion, and to top it all off, she had no aura to speed up the healing process. It could take weeks or even months before she would even be able to walk around properly. Never mind using her arm.

Yang's feelings of dread and regret grew with every injury listed off. Until she was practically suffocating herself with how hard her hand was clamped over her face. Finally, Ochre took a deep breath before continuing.

"And yet, I can't completely hold it against you. I was the one to get you mad enough to the point that you would do that in the first place." *sigh* "I owe you an apology for cutting off your hair."

Yang immediately hugged her, careful not to touch her broken arm and shoulder. "No, I'm way too protective of my hair. Such a trivial thing shouldn't matter when my teammates need me." It was hesitant, but Ochre slowly wrapped her arm around Yang, holding the blond tight.

"Actually, since we're here, I would like to ask you why you don't have an aura." Yang released Ochre from the hug. "...well, I um... I just never had it unlocked... I guess." She said quietly.

"No, I mean, why you don't seem to have one at all. Not even a locked one."

She wanted so badly to tell someone, anyone the truth, but... _she won't believe me. No one will ever believe me. I'm alone._ And the thought terrified her. She tried to hide her tears. She really tried. She didn't want to burden anyone else with her problems. _I'm alone_.

The overwhelming feeling of loneliness cut through all her mental floodgates, and the emotions, the fear, the homesickness, the helplessness that had been welling up inside her, poured out as though a dam had been broken.

She could do nothing to stifle her sobs and the loud cries of agony that rang through the room. Yang saw how upset she was, and hugged her tightly. Just letting her get it all out. She had clearly been holding this in for awhile.

By the time the brunette was finished, both girls had lost track of how many minutes had passed. But Ochre's sobs had quieted down, and her crying had almost stopped. She sat back in her bed, eyes bloodshot from crying. Yang got a chair and prompted for her to start.

Ochre opened her mouth to start, then closed it, and covered her face with her hands. Yang asked "What's wrong?"

"You wouldn't believe me." She whispered, lowering her head and covering her face with her hands. "Try me." Yang said in response.

"...alright."

So she explained what she could. How she woke up in Remnant, and how professor Ozpin let her into the school, despite being unable to find any information about her.

"Wait." Yang interrupted. "How did you even know where you were? No one told you right?"

"Nope. I knew because in my world, Remnant does exist. As the setting for an anime."

"...Seriously?"

"...Yeah. It's called RWBY. Honestly, I'm not sure if 'anime' is the right word for it. It's kinda like, a 3D animation web series, or something along those lines. But the creator wanted it to be called an anime, and it's honestly just easier that way."

"...Wait, Rwby? Like the team name?"

"Yep. And you four are the main characters."

"Yang?"

"How far into it did you watch?"

"Got all the way to the end of Volume 4. Volume 5 had yet to come out."

Yang hesitated. "Where are we now?"

"Middle of Volume 1." Ochre answered. Yang was silent for a moment.

"Yang? Are you okay?"

"So... you know what's gonna happen, huh?"

"...I have a pretty good idea at least. This is real life after all. And life is unpredictable."

Yang was silent.

"Yang..." Ochre trailer off.

"I need proof. Tell me something about myself that not many people would know."

" ... Hmm, how bout when you found out who your mom was and brought Ruby along on what was basically suicid-"

"Ok, I believe you." Ochre was silent. She looked like she was about to cry again, but this time, out of happiness.

"Don't go all quiet on me Ochre."

The brunette reached over with her left arm to tightly hug Yang. She whispered "thank you." Into the blond's ears, and they held the embrace for a few moments.

The nurse came in to tell Yang that visiting hours were over. The two girls looked out the window to see that the sun had set a while ago. How time flies...

Yang bid Ochre goodbye and left.

The nurse started talking, but Ochre wasn't listening, her thoughts swirling in her head. She snapped out of it to see that the room was empty.

Then her exhaustion hit her like a train.

She lay in the bed for awhile, before finally being able to only see black.

She let her consciousness drift like the tide, and for the first time in awhile, had good dreams.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Okay, so did _anyone_ get the Undertale reference?**

 **And I wanna know if the way Yang reacted was reasonable or not. But other than that, I hope you enjoyed reading the chapter.**


	9. Hospital Days

She had been staring up at the ceiling for who knows how long. Just staring off into space, trying to ignore the pain while her brain wandered.

She wondered if Jaune was doing okay. After all, Cardin would have been blackmailing him. She wondered if Pyrrha had picked up on what had happened (She probably hadn't).

She also wondered how long it would take her arm to heal.

She absentmindedly started tapping out a rhythm with her left hand.

 _tap tap tap, tap tap, tap tap tap_

It felt awkward and off tune to the song she was singing in her head. Then again, she wasn't much of a lefty.

 _This'll be the day we're waiting for_

 _This'll be the day we open up the door_

That was when the nurse came in with her meal. Celene quickly ate, and went back to letting her mind wander.

At some point, she must've started singing out loud, because the next thing she knew, someone was clapping.

Startled, she turned her body in the direction of the clapping. It was much too early for Team RWBY to be visiting her. They had classes after all.

To her surprise, it wasn't Yang, nor team RWBY, or anybody from Team JNPR (but why would they want to visit her anyway?). It was professor Ozpin. Or was it _headmaster_ Ozpin or something along those lines? She had kinda forgotten.

"U-um...Good morning, Professor Ozpin." She nervously said. _Why am I so nervous..?_ She questioned herself in her thoughts. _I mean, he's not one of the bad guys.. but then he's not much of a good guy either. He lied to so many people._ She was snapped out of her thoughts by professor Ozpin clearing his throat.

"Ms. Zinnia." He began, finally getting to the reason why he came. "We need to talk about why you don't have an aura."

That was what she was afraid of talking about. She had no idea which direction the conversation would take. Would he kick her out of Beacon? Will he question her? What if she accidently let something slip?!

 _Okay, calm down._ She told herself. No matter where the conversation went, she would adjust.

"Yes professor?" She finally said, her voice steady.

This is it, she'll have to be careful what she says. She doesn't wasn't to let anything slip...

* * *

"...ey, ochre we... Ochre!? OCHRE!"

A voice filtered in through the haziness. Suddenly, someone was shaking her, tugging her out of her thoughts.

She saw a blur of yellow.

Rubbing her eyes, she muttered, "Yang...Please don't shake me too hard."

Yang apologized, but explained that nothing else was working.

"So..." The blond tried to get the conversation going in the right direction. "You were telling me about the Headmaster paying you a visit?"

"Oh, yeah." Ochre shook her head to clear her thoughts.

"So he asked me why I don't have an aura, and I told him that no one ever unlocked it for me. I never would have had a reason to unlock it on my own as I had been living the life of a civilian. I learned how to fight whenever I wasn't in school, but not to fight Grimm. I went to a normal school, not a huntsmen one." She paused for a second. "So one day, I was walking through Vale when I heard the robbery going on, and I stepped in to help." She sighed. "It's the closest I could get to the truth without flat out lying to him."

"Is that gonna be part of your cover story?" Yang asked. Ochre answered "Yeah... I guess so. Right now though, It's a reason for why I don't have an aura."

Her gaze drifted towards her arm. Yang started to feel bad again.

Ochre cleared her throat to get Yang's attention.

"Yang... What am I gonna do..?" She asked quietly. "I don't think I can get through this as I am now.." She started to tear up a little.

"The worst is yet to come, but if I can't even get through a simple spar without hurting myself..."

Yang rubbed her back, assuring her that they would find a way through this. Her tears dried a little.

It was at this time that Yang had to get back to class. Oh if only her lunch break could last longer. Ochre bid her goodbye, and she left.

Now, what to do while she waited for classes to end...

* * *

"The trip to forever fall is on Friday. It's a shame you won't be able to come, Ochre." Weiss said.

"Oh, it's fine. You girls will tell me if anything interesting happens, right?"

"Yeah!" Ruby cheerfully said. "I promise, if something even slightly out of the ordinary happens, you will know about it."

 _"Hey,_ does _anything interesting happen?"_ Yang quietly asked Ochre.

The brunette smiled and nodded. But didn't elaborate. Blake was watching them out of the corner of her eye. Yang and Ochre had been acting more, friendly, with each other. She didn't know why, but this bothered her a little. Still, she too promised Ochre they would tell her if anything happened.

The girl's smile lit up the room.

Then the nurse came in telling them that it was meal time and the infirmary would be closing soon. Everyone said goodbye, then Team RWBY left the room.

As the nurse gave Ochre her meal, she said, "It's nice that you have friends that care about you. I'm sure your very happy to have them around."

Ochre nodded, and started eating her dinner. Still, she thought about what she had just heard.

 _Friends, huh?  
_


	10. Forever Fall

"Wow! The forest is soo pretty!" Ruby exclaimed. Then she got out her scroll, and started taking pictures.

"Yes, students the Forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sight-see. Ruby, I'm only allowing you to take pictures to show your bedridden teammate. Do not expect me to be this lenient in the future." Ruby frantically nodded to show her understanding, and Ms. Goodwitch was back to her briefing.

"Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the deep trees inside the forest. And I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so."

Jaune was frantically running to catch up with the group. He was carrying all of Team CRDL's jars, along with a rather heavy-looking box.

"Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm. So be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at four'o clock. Have fun!"

Team RWBY gathered by one cluster of trees, and Team (J)NPR gathered by another. But nobody knew where team CRDL was. So Yang decided to keep one of her eyes open. She was looking around, but she couldn't see Team CRDL, or Jaune anywhere.. Yang was getting a bad feeling about all of it, but she couldn't just run off. Her teammates wouldn't have a clue where she was.

Helpless to do anything, she returned her focus to the assignment.

* * *

 _How did it all go so wrong?_ Jaune had to ask himself, he had wanted to go to Beacon to get stronger, to be a hero like his father, and his father before him.

Now he's stuck being Cardin's lapdog. And there was nothing he could do to get out of it, unless he got kicked out of the school. And Jaune did not want to go back home as a failure. So, he did whatever Cardin asked him to do.

But, intentionally hurting his teammate, is where he drew the line.

He just couldn't do it. He couldn't hurt Pyrrha. In a fit of anger, he turned around and threw the sap at Cardin. The sap that would have attracted the rapier wasp Grimms to Pyrrha, was splattered all over the front of Cardin's chest armor, coloring the majestic wings engraved on them a deep red.

Seeing the shock in Cardin's eyes turn to anger, Jaune recoiled in fear.

 _Maybe that wasn't the best idea..._ He briefly pondered, before he was surrounded by the angry-looking members of Team CRDL. He put his hands up in defense, but Cardin alone seemed to be twice his size. He knew he wasn't gonna get out of this without a few bruises...

* * *

Everyone felt the ground rumble. Though there was nothing in sight that would have caused it.

 _This must be what Ochre meant when she said something was gonna happen._ Yang thought, deploying her gauntlets.

"That's a big Ursa!" Someone cried. And a loud _ROAR_ was heard. Team CRDL, minus Cardin came running out of the treeline into the clearing, calling "Ursa! Ursa!"

The one that was yelling ran into Yang, who immediately demanded to know what was going on.

The guy pointed back in the direction he came from. "Back there. It got Cardin!" He told her, frightened.

Pyrrha dropped her jar of sap worriedly saying "Jaune!" Ruby immediately took action. "Yang, you and Blake go get Professor Goodwitch." Pyrrha spoke up, telling Ren and Nora to go with them, as there could be more.

Pyrrha, Ruby and Weiss took off in the opposite direction, deploying their weapons, and hoping they weren't too late.

When they got there, they saw Carding getting his ass handed to him. The Ursa mauled him again and again, and would have done more damage had Jaune not stepped in, shielding them both.

Jaune recklessly charged at the Ursa. He must've been tired, as he wasn't holding his shield up, leaving him open to an attack.

His shield suddenly raised, blocking the Ursa's swipe. He took advantage of the Ursa's non-existent guard, decapitating the creature.

Ruby and Weiss were understandably confused, as they saw Pyrrha raise her and before Jaune's shield went up.

"How did you..?" Weiss started to ask, but Pyrrha cut her off.

"Well, Ruby has her speed, you have your glyphs. My Semblance is polarity."

*Gasp* "You can control poles" Ruby quietly said.

"No you dunce! It means she has control over magnetism." Weiss berated Ruby.

"Magnets are cool too." The red caped-girl quietly said to herself. Pyrrha started walking away.

"Wait, where are you going?" Weiss asked

"Yeah," Ruby continued, "We gotta tell them what happened."

"We could. Or, we could keep it our little secret. I think Jaune could use the confidence boost." She turned and walked away.

They could hear Jaune tell Cardin as he pulled him up, "Don't ever mess with my team my friends ever again. Got it?" He walked away. Cardin didn't try to stop him.

* * *

Jaune stood at the edge of the rooftop, watching the shattered moon in the night sky.

"No Cardin tonight?" Pyrrha asked, coming up from behind him. "I thought you two were best buds?"

Juane turned to her, sadness written all over his face.

"Pyrrha, I'm sorry. I was a jerk. You were only trying to be nice and... I-I had all this stupid macho stuff in my head and-"

"It's okay Jaune." Pyrrha softly said. She smiled at him. He smiled back.

"Y'know, your team really misses it's leader." She turned to leave. "You should come downstairs. Ren made pancakes~ No syrup though. You can thank Nora for that."

Jaune got her attention again before she could leave. "Wait, Pyrrha."

She turned towards him.

" I know I don't deserve it, after what happened, but... Would you still be willing to help me? To help me become a better fighter."

She gave him a rather predatory smile. Then she walked up to him, and pushed him to the ground.

"Your stance is all wrong. You need to be wider and lower to the ground." She offered her hand which he took, and she pulled him back up.

Still with their hands interlocked, she said, "Let's try that again."

The camera zooms out, before panning up to show us Remnant's beautiful shattered moon.


	11. Aura

"Good morning." Ochre cheerfully greeted Team RWBY as they filed into the room. Ruby came in first, followed by Weiss, followed by Blake, with Yang being the last one in.

Ruby started rambling about the forest, and how pretty it was... and how red the leaves were...

Ochre didn't mean to be rude, but she found her thoughts drifting once again. When she returned to the present, there was a scroll shoved into her face. Ruby wouldn't stop talking, and Weiss and Blake had to come and restrain her. Ochre tentatively took the scroll into her hand, being careful not to drop it.

Ruby immediately told her to look through the photos, and Ochre was going to, but... She had no idea how to operate a scroll.

At first, she assumed that it was just like a mobile phone back home, and she started swiping her finger along the screen. A couple of weird things popped up, and Ochre started panicking. She almost dropped the scroll, which resulted in Weiss grabbing it and proceeding to get the photos up.

Blake who had watched the whole thing had to ask, "Ochre, do you not know how to use a scroll?" She was starting to get suspicious of the brunette. First no aura, and now no knowledge of how to operate a scroll? Something that should have been taught to her before she got into Beacon. Just who was this girl?

Said girl slowly nodded her head with a rather sheepish expression on her face. Blake had to think about it for a second.

 _Has no aura, so she wasn't trained to be a huntress... Some knowledge of hand-to-hand combat, suggesting that she **was** in fact taught to fight, but if not the to be a huntress, then what for? Self-defense maybe?_

 _I need to look into her. If only to ease my mind about all this..._

"Oh hey, Ochre?" Ruby asked. "Yes?" The brunette asked.

"I don't know how, but I can suddenly sense you."

This got everyone's attention, and Weiss and Blake immediately did a double take. They slightly flexed their auras, and sure enough, they could sense five people in the room instead of the usual four.

They looked to Ochre for an answer, only to see her smiling as if she didn't have a care in the world. She sat facing forward instead of towards the girls on her bed. Slightly lifting her legs as she kicked her legs to the song she was humming.

Yang immediately understood.

"You got your aura unlocked." She said aloud. Everyone stared at Ochre, who only nodded, her bright smile still on her lips.

Ruby started asking about the how or the who, Yang didn't bother asking, as Ruby did it for her. Weiss was waiting for Ruby to finish before speaking, and Blake was keeping her questions to herself.

Ochre did her best to answer their questions, and by the end, they were satisfied.

"The nurse says I'll be in the infirmary for another couple of weeks before going back to class. To me, that's a huge improvement over a month. It'll be another week after that until my arm's healed though..."

Suffice to say, the rest of the team was rather happy about this. Two less weeks of Ochre being hospitalized. And though Weiss tried to deny that she cared, by saying that it wouldn't look good to have one of their teammates out for so long, they all saw right through it.

The nurse came in to tell them that it was the patient's mealtime. Although they didn't like being interrupted, they left, albeit rather hesitantly.

Ochre smiled and waved to them. She would see them again soon enough.

 **Three weeks timeskip brought to you by Chibi Ochre braiding Weiss's hair.**

Ochre's eyes snapped open as a whistle was blown in her ear. She bolted upright in her sleeping bag, clutching her ears.

"Ruby..." She said in a somewhat hurt voice. "If you keep this up, I'm going to go deaf." Ruby hastily apologized and put the whistle away.

Ochre rubbed her temples to make the headache go away. Nevertheless, she smiled. It was good to be back with the team again.

* * *

"The Vytal festival! Oh this is absolutely wonderful!" Weiss exclaimed.

"You're in a good mood." Ochre mused.

"Yeah Weiss. I've never seen you smile so much before. To be honest, its weirding me out.." Ruby trailed off.

"How could you not smile?" Weiss said. "A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world." She started to get excited. "There will be dances, parades, a tournament! Oh the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!" She finished.

Everyone gave her a weird look.

"You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring." Yang deadpanned.

"Quiet you!" Weiss snapped back.

Yang sighed. "Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?"

Ruby pinched her nose. "Yeah, they smell like fish."

"I've heard that the students from Vacuo are arriving by ship today. And as a representative of Beacon, I feel it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom." Weiss turned around, putting a hand over her chest, chin held high.

"She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament." Blake informed them.

"Well, unless she wants to watch them fight, spying won't help much." Ochre said.

A store surrounded by police tape got their attention. They went to take a closer look.

"What happened here?" Ruby asked the two police officers that were stationed there.

"Robbery." The first one answered. "Second dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle." He walked towards the other officer.

"They left all the money again." The second officer told the first.

"It doesn't make a lick of sense. Who needs that much dust?"

"You uh, thinkin' the White Fang?"

"Yeah I'm thinking we don't get paid enough." The girls turned to head back to the docks.

Weiss hmphed. "The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates."

"What's your problem?" Blake turned to Weiss, voice becoming somewhat hostile.

"My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane."

"The White Fang are hardly psychopaths. They're a collection of misguided faunus."

"Misguided? They want to wipe humanity off the face of the Earth." Weiss said, voice rising in volume.

Blake sighed and looked down, almost ashamed. "Then they're _very_ misguided. But it still doesn't explain why they would rob a dust store."

"What about Roman Torchwick?" Ruby suggested.

Ochre added her input. "Yeah, when I got to the scene, it looked like he was stealing dust. Right?" She asked Ruby for assurance. Though she didn't need it.

"Yep. He was stealing dust that night. This could've been him too." She glanced back at the crime scene.

Weiss crossed her arms "Well it doesn't change that the faunus of the White Fang are scum." She spat out hatefully.

 _"Not all of them..."_ Ochre whispered to herself. Blake looked at her in surprise, before turning back to Weiss.

"Those faunus only know how to lie cheat and steal."

"That's not necessarily true." Yang said.

Somewhere behind them, a sailor called, "Hey! Stop that faunus!" They saw a blond monkey-tailed faunus running across a ship. He jumped on the railing.

"Thanks for the ride guys!" He yelled to the two sailors before jumping off the boat. He landed on the docks and kept running.

"You no-good stow-away!" One of the sailors called after him. He turned around and yelled back, "Hey, a "no-good" stow-away would have been caught. I'm a great stow-away." He peeled open a banana, and hung himself from a lamppost by his tail.

One of the police officers they heard earlier threw a rock at the faunus, demanding he get down. The faunus' reply was to throw a banana peel in the guy's face and run off. As he ran by the four girls, he winked at Blake. Ochre glared at him until he left.

"Well Weiss, you wanted to see the competition, and there it goes." Yang told the white-haired girl.

"Quick we must observe him!" Weiss said before running off. Yang started running after her, and Ruby soon followed.

Blake hesitated for a moment, still surprised that the other faunus winked at her. She was snapped out of her stupor by Ochre pinching the bridge of her nose, and muttering, "Horrible timing Sun..."

Blake looked at her, suddenly realizing the implications.

"You _know_ him?" Blake asked in confusion and surprise.

Ochre looked at her, as if not realizing she was there. Her eyes were wide, and she chuckled nervously before saying, "Nope! Never seen him before in my life!" She grabbed Blake's wrist and started running.

"Now, let's go before the rest of the team gets too far ahead of us." _With any luck, this whole ordeal will take her mind off of what I just said._ Ochre thought. It was all she could do to hope.

* * *

The blond faunus turned the corner with the police still on his tail. Weiss and Ruby were the first to turn the corner, but they were going too fast, as Weiss crashed into something.

Weiss got up, to see the faunus jump too high up for the police.

"No! he got away!" She cried, before remembering the girl she had bumped into.

"Salutations!" The mysterious girl said. "Um..hello." Ruby said uncertaintly.

"Are you okay?" Yang asked.

"I'm wonderful. Thank you for asking." She answered, still lying on the ground.

The girls looked at each other with odd expressions on their faces.

"Do you... wanna get up?" Yang asked hesitantly.

The strange girl narrowed her eyes, as if contemplating it. "Yes." She said happily after a moment. She pushed herself up, and the girls backed off. Except for Ochre, and of course, Blake noticed this.

"My name is Penny." The strange girl said getting everyone's attention once more. "It's a pleasure to meet you!" She said happily.

"Hi Penny I'm Ruby." She started off.

"I'm Weiss."

"Blake."

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang asked. Blake hit her, and she said her name. Ochre rolled her eyes before introducing herself as well.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Penny repeated.

Weiss gave her an odd look. "You already said that."

Penny thought about that for a second. "So I did." She answered happily. Ochre couldn't help but crack a smile. But she noticed Blake eyeing her suspiciously. _That girl's waay too perceptive for her own good._ Ochre internally sighed.

"Well, sorry for running into you." Weiss told Penny. The rest of them turned around as Ruby called back, "Take care friend."

Suddenly Penny was in front of her. "What did you call me?" She asked in wonder.

"Me?" Ruby asked nervously as Penny towered over her. "I-don't know, I-what-I-um..."

"You called me 'friend'! Am I really your friend?" Penny asked.

Ochre snickered. "Reading into things much?"

Ruby glanced to the rest of the girls who were waving their hands to say "No". Ochre just gave her a faintly amused smile. Either Ruby didn't know how to read body language, or she just ignored everyone, because she said "ya. sure. Why not?"

Everyone except Ochre collapse, while said girl couldn't help but start laughing when a gong rang.

"Sensational!" Penny joyfully yelled. "We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!"

"Was this what is was like when you met me." Ruby asked Weiss.

"No, she seems 'far' more coordinated." Weiss whispered back.

Yang asked Penny, "So, what are you doing in Vale?"

"I'm here to fight in the tournament." Penny told her.

Weiss looked at her incredulously. "Wait, you're fighting in the tournament?"

Penny turned to her, smiling. "I am combat ready." She said with a salute.

"Forgive me, but you hardly look the part." Weiss deadpanned.

"Says the girl wearing a dress." Blake pointed out.

"It's a combat skirt." Weiss defended. Ruby slid up to her, and they high-fived.

Ochre couldn't help it anymore, she just couldn't. She burst out laughing.

Everyone ignored her.

"Wait." Weiss suddenly said, walking up to penny and grabbing her shoulders.

"If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed...rapscallion?"

She sounded like she was going to say something worse, but Blake glaring at her must've scared her into submission.

"Who?" Penny asked confusedly.

"The filthy faunus from the boat!" Weiss told her, holding up a very badly drawn picture of the faunus.

"Why do you keep saying that?" Blake asked angrily.

"Huh?" Weiss seemed confused.

"Stop calling him a rapscallion. Stop calling him a degenerate." Blake angrily told her.

"She never called him a degenerate..." Ochre said absentmindedly.

"You're defending her now?!" Blake angrily asked Ochre.

"I'm not defending anyone." The brunette put her hands up. "I'm stating a fact."

Blake turned away from her, sparing her one last glare.

"The point is, Weiss, he's a person!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trashcan, or this lampost as a lamp post?"

"STOP IT!" Blake yelled.

"Stop what?" Weiss asked innocently. "Clearly he broke the law. Give him time, he'll probably join up with those other faunus in the White Fang."

Blake clenched her fist. "Ugh You ignorant little brat!" Blake spat out. She turned and walked a few feet, before Weiss called, "How dare you talk to me like that! I am your teammate." She walked after Blake.

"You are a judgmental little girl!" Blake angrily said.

"What in the world makes you say that?" Weiss asked, outraged.

"The mere fact that you would sort that faunus boy with the terrorist group, solely because of his species makes you just as much of a scoundrel as you believe him to be." Blake answered.

"So, you admit it. The White Fang's 'is' just a radical terrorist group."

"That's NOT what I meant and You know it!"

* * *

They were back at the dorm. Yang, Ruby, and Ochre looked on helplessly as Blake and Weiss continued arguing.

Ochre didn't even bother to interfere. And her somewhat calm demeanor was enough to tell Yang as much too. This was something that the two had to work out by themselves.

"I don't see why this is causing such a problem!"

"That is the problem!" Blake loudly said to the heiress.

"You realize you are defending an organization that hates humanity, right?" Weiss said. " _Y'know, there's probably a good reason why they hate humanity..."_

Blake turned to Ochre, who had just spoken. She had a rather sad look on her face.

Weiss mostly ignored her. "The faunus of the White Fang are pure evil." She stated, albeit with the slightest bit of uncertainty..

"There's no such thing as pure evil." Blake said. "Why do you think they hate humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like **you** that force the White Fang to take such desperate measures."

"People like me?" Weiss asked, outraged.

"You're discriminatory!" Blake clarified.

"I'm a victim." Weiss yelled.

She backed up a bit, turning to the window. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang so much? Why I don't particularly trust the faunus?" She leaned on the windowsill.

"It's because they've been at war with my family for years. War, as in, actual bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted on it's back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear. Board members, executed. An _entire_ train car _full_ of dust, stolen" At this, Blake looked a little guilty.

"Every day, my father would come home furious. And that made for a _very_ difficult childhood." Her fists clenched, and she slammed the windowsill.

Ruby walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

"No!" Weiss pushed her away. " _Oh, here it comes..."_ Ochre whispered to Yang. The blond stiffened, and payed more attention to the conversation.

"You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!"

 _ **"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!"**_ Blake loudly said with tears in her eyes.

Everything froze until she realized what she said.

"I-I..." Blake's eyes widened in shock. Then she took off.

Ochre lunged for the door, but was too late.

 _"Shit.."_ She muttered too quietly for anyone to hear. "I'm going after her." She declared, before also taking off.

Weiss, Ruby, and Yang just stood in the room, still trying to comprehend what had just happened.

It was going to be a long night...


	12. Christmas Interlude

**Typed a little Holiday special to celebrate... whatever occasion you celebrate. This interlude takes heavy inspiration from the Rwby Chibi episode Nondescript Holiday spectacular. If only because I didn't have a lot of original ideas for this, and to reach a high enough word count.  
**

 **This has no real connection to the actual story, and rest assured, the new chapter is on the way. (Though it probably won't be ready to post until after New Year's)**

 **But until it does come out, enjoy!**

* * *

 **"** We wish you a merry non-descript winter holiday

We wish you a merry non-descript winter holiday

We wish you a merry non-descript winter holiday

And a happy New Year"

"Good tidings we bring

To you and your kin

Good tidings for... non-descript winter holiday

And a happy New Year"

"Oh, you know the song."

Ochre chuckled. "Of course I know the song. Who doesn't?"

Ruby giggled. "Yeah. Good point. Do you know any other ones?"

Ochre cleared her throat.

"You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen.

Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen.

But do you recall

The most famous reindeer of all?

Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer had a very shiny nose

And if you ever saw him, you would even say it glows"

Yang burst into the room.

"Whatcha guys doing?" She loudly asked.

"Yaaang! We were in the middle of a song!" Ruby whined.

"Oops, sorry..." She said apologetically.

Ochre sighed. "It's okay Yang." She said with a smile on her face.

Yang smiled back, then turned to Ruby. "Anyway, come on Rubes! It's time to put up the Christmas tree.

Ruby started squealing, then she ran off with Yang.

 _I guess that's my cue..._ Ochre mumbled in her brain. She started picking up the lights and hanging them.

It was tedious work, and Ochre would normally be more grumpy about it, but it was Christmas after all. Who could be miserable on Christmas?

* * *

Somewhere far away, Torchwick grumbled to himself about how miserable he was on Christmas. He wanted to get rid of the holiday, but stealing all the decorations and gifts wouldn't do. So at least he's smarter than the Grinch...

He created a machine that would suck the Holiday spirit out of everyone. And so he went around doing just that.

* * *

"We did it Neo! Non-descript winter holiday is ruined! All that's left to do now is dispose of this giant bag of holiday spirit." He and Neo start to pull and push the bag. They couldn't even get it an inch off the ground.

"Do you need any help?" Someone asks from behind them.

Torchwick turned around to see Team Rwby standing there.

"But- you-How? What are you kids doing? You're supposed to be all miserable and sad, not willing to help!"

"Well you sapped our Non-descript winter holiday spirit... but, that doesn't mean we don't still love each other and want to help people." Yang said.

"Yeah we're not mean." Weiss said.

"Not all of us at least..." Blake said, tilting her head to Weiss.

Smiling, Ruby said to Torchwick, "So do you need help with whatever it is your doing?"

Torchwick, sputtering and choking on his own words, managed to say, "I don't need you! I don't need anybody! Just leave me alone!"

He started desperately pulling on the bag again. And it tore open, spilling the Christmas spirit out. A few of the little lights landed on his head, and everyone heard him say:  
"I think my heart grew three sizes today."

And realizing his mistake, he shot the bag open with his cane. The Non-descript holiday spirit poured out into the air. Touching down upon every student at Beacon.

* * *

The students were outside, conversing and having a good time. Ochre was happily chatting with Yang Weiss and Blake. But Ruby was talking with Torchwick. She could easily hear their conversation.

"Oh Torchwick, we're so sorry if you felt left out earlier. All you had to do was say so." Ruby told him with a large smile on her face.

Tochwick turned to her, also smiling." "Well, Red I might still try to kill you and all your friends from time to time, but I'm sorry for being such a gri-Such a- Ow!" He sank to his knees, gripping his cane, his other hand over his chest.

 _Was he about to say Grinch?_ Ochre briefly wondered.

"You okay?" Ruby asked.

"I can't feel my left arm." Torchwick told her before promptly falling over.

Neo ran over holding up a sign that said 'Oh no.' And then someone called the hospital.

"Y'know, I guess having your heart grow three sizes in one day isn't very good for your body." Ruby commented.

"I feel he kinda deserved it." Ochre deadpanned.

Everyone gave her the strangest of looks, to which she replied, "What? He ruined Ruby's cookies." She walked over to said girl wrapping her in a two arm bear hug. "And anyone who would ever do that to such a precious little cinnamon bun deserves to be in cardiac arrest. Plus, have we forgotten that he's a criminal?"

"Well, yeah normally." Yang answered. "But this is for satire and comedy."

"...Anyway, I'll make cookies later okay?"Ochre whispered to Ruby, still hugging her. The little red-caped girl perked up.

"Hey Guys." Juane said as he entered the scene with Team JNPR.

"Hey Gang. All ready to look for the perfect Holiday tree?" Nora asked.

"What?" Ruby asked. Meanwhile, Ochre was staring at Juane's yellow striped sweater. _Why does that seem so familiar?_ She wondered.

Juane seemed confused. "Wait, which comedy are we doing?" He asked. "Not whichever one you're doing." Weiss deadpanned.

Team RWBY walked away, though Ochre stayed where she was, still staring at Juane's sweater.

Juane sighed and said, "Good grief." Immediately afterwards, Ochre starting laughing.

"Ahahahahahahahaha! I get it!" She yelled in between fits of uncontrollable laughter. "H-hey, d-does Zwei play basketball?" She managed to get out before her laughing was the only thing you could hear.

A minute later, Juane asks, "Um...Are you done?" His team looked rather uncomfortable, and who can blame them? Ochre probably sounded like some kind of psychopath to them at that moment.

She stopped for a minute to catch her breath. Then she apologized, and bid Team JNPR goodbye. _I have cookies to bake after all_ :-)

* * *

In front of a room with a fireplace, decorated with Christmas lights that Ochre had put up earlier, she brought a platter of cookies to the rest of Team RWBY.

"So...how are they..?" Ochre nervously asked after the rest of the team tried out the cookies. "I-I'm not really used to baking...so if they don't taste good..."

"Ochre, just stop." Yang said. "Don't belittle yourself. The cookies are delicious." She reassured the brunette.

Weiss added her input. "Hmm...They're a little burnt." Ruby elbowed her. "But they're very good." She quickly added in. Ochre's body seemed to relax a little. Ruby cuddled up next to her while munching on one of the cookies. She didn't seem to mind that they were burnt at all.

Ochre gave a small smile, and leaned into the younger girl's body. _This_ was the kind of friendship she was deprived of back home. The kind she had longed for most of her life. It felt good to know that there were people there for her, other than her immediate family. The rest of Team RWBY gathered around the fireplace, and someone started to sing Rudolph The Red-nosed Reindeer.

 ** _Merry non-descript winter holiday everyone_.**

* * *

 **Have a merry Christmas/ Hanukkah/ Kwanzaa/ any other holiday I forgot about. (It's called Non-descript Winter Holiday for a reason.)**

 **And have a happy New Year!**

 **-Celene**


	13. Cooperator turned Confidant

**I am sorry for being gone for so long, but I am back with the finale. And what a doozy of a chapter it is.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Blake ran, and ran until she reached the courtyard.

As she stared at the humongous statue, she couldn't stop her eyes from tearing up. Slowly, she reached up to the ribbon tied into a bow on her head. And she pulled two loose strings until in came off. She gripped it in her hand, trying to wipe away the tears trailing down her face.

"There you are." Someone said from behind her. Blake turned around, hand on Gambol Shroud, until she saw who it was.

It was Ochre.

"Why did you follow me..?" Blake asked. She was _so_ sure that everyone would hate her when they found out she was an ex-member of the White Fang.

Ochre looked hurt. "Why is that even a question? You're my teammate, my...friend. There shouldn't have to be any other reason." Blake looked at her to see the brunette smiling sadly.

"You mean... You don't care that I'm a faunus?" Blake asked.

Then Ochre sounded like she was trying not to laugh. "No offense, Blake, but it's a miracle you were able to keep it a secret this long." She giggled quietly. "It was _so_ obvious."

She quickly calmed herself down. "And besides..." She shyly met Blake's eyes. "I think the cat ears are kinda cute."

" _She_ knows what she's talking about." Someone said, snapping Blake out of her moment of shock. She turned to the direction of the voice to see that it was that faunus boy from earlier.

"Knew you'd look better without the bow." He said with a smile on his face.

* * *

Ruby yawned and sat up in bed. For a moment, everything was fine and her brain was momentarily empty, as it tends to be when waking from a deep sleep Then all the memories came rushing in.

Weiss and Blake arguing, Blake taking off, Ochre following her...

She glanced to Blake's bed. It was empty. She looked over to Ochre's sleeping bag. Also empty.

 _They still haven't come back yet..._ It was decided then.

She zipped over to Yang's bed, tapping her until she woke up. It took a lot of tapping as it was _very_ early, and Yang was a heavy sleeper.

Then she ran over to Weiss's bed, whistle in hand. The loud "FWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET" that followed completely woke up both Yang and Weiss. Along with possibly everyone else on that floor.

They both fell out of bed, and that was when Ruby announced,

"Rise and shine team! We're going out today to search for Blake and Ochre!"

* * *

The three of them sat in a cafe. Blake wore her bow once again. Sun held his teacup by his tail. Ochre simply picked up her cup, and sipped the tea, a grim expression on her face. She knew what was about to happen...

"So.. you want to know more about me?" Blake finally said after what seemed like hours of silence.

"Finally she speaks!" Sun exclaimed. "Nearly a day and you've given me nothing but small talk and weird looks."

Blake shot him a scowl. "Ya, like that." Sun said. Then he pointed to Ochre, "And you...uh, haven't really said much at all."

Ochre quietly said, "I was waiting until Blake decided to talk." The cat faunus shot her a grateful smile and then turned to also face Sun.

"Sun, Ochre, are you familiar with the White Fang?" She asked.

"Of course!" Sun said. "I don't think there's a faunus on the planet who hasn't heard of them. Stupid, holier than though creeps that use force to get whatever they want. Bunch of freaks if you ask me." Ochre stayed quiet, respectfully letting Sun speak his piece, until Blake turned to her asking her opinion.

She looked as if she was in thought for a second.

"Well, I think the cause they're fighting for is a noble one. But I don't think the way they're fighting for it is right... Does that make any sense?"

They were both staring at her, and she was starting to get nervous. Blake looked at the brink of tears.

"Yeah, that makes sense." Sun said. Blake composed herself, and started her story.

"Well... I was once a member of the White Fang."

Sun nearly did a spit take. "Wait a minute, 'you' were a member of the White Fang?"

Blake closed her eyes. "That's right. I was a member for most of my life, actually. You could almost say I was born into it. Back then, things were different. In the ashes of war, the White Fang was meant to be a symbol of peace and unity between faunus and the humans. Of course, despite being promised equality, the faunus were subjugated to discrimination and hate. Humanity still thought of us as lesser beings. The White Fang rose up as the voice of our people. And I was at the loudest at every protest, at the front of every rally. I really thought we were making a difference. But I was just a youthful optimist. Five years ago, our leader stepped down, and a new one took his place. A new leader with a new way of thinking. Suddenly, our peaceful protests were being replaced with organized attacks. We were setting fire to shops that refused to serve us. Hijacking cargo from companies that used faunus labor. And the worst part was? It was working. We were being treated as equals. But not out of respect...out of fear."

Blake put down her teacup. "So, I left. I decided no longer wanted to use my skills to aid in their violence. And instead, I would dedicate my life to becoming a Huntress. So here I am. A criminal hiding in plain sight. All with the help of a little black bow." She twitched her ears to make a point.

Sun looked contemplative. "So... aside from her, have you told your friends any of this?"

* * *

"BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE! OCHREEEE!? WHERE ARE YOU?!" Ruby yelled.

"BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!" Yang yelled with her. Weiss walked with them, absolutely silent.

Ruby turned to the Heiress. "Weiss, you're not helping."

"Oh! You know who might be able to help? The police."

Ruby groaned. "It was just an idea!" Weiss said loudly. "Yeah a bad one" Ruby mumbled.

"Weiss, I think we should hear Blake's side of the story and Ochre's reasoning for following her before we jump to any conclusions." Yang told Weiss.

"I think when we hear it, you'll see that I was right."

"And I think Weiss's hair looks wonderful today."

They all turned around, with Ruby exclaiming "AGH! Penny! Where did you come from?!"

"Hey guys. What are you up to?" She asked.

"We're looking for our friends Blake and Ochre." Yang said.

Penny's eyes lit up. "Oooh! You mean the brown haired one, and the faunus girl."

They stared at her.

"Wait, how did you know Blake's a faunus?" Ruby asked, tilting her head.

Penny pointed to her head. "Uhh the cat ears."

"What cat ears? She wears a...bow..." Yang trailed off.

A tumbleweed blew past. "She does like tuna a lot." Ruby whispered.

"So, where are they?" Penny finally asked.

"We don't know." Ruby answered, a note of sadness in her voice. "They've both been gone since yesterday night."

"*Gasp* That's terrible! Well don't you worry Ruby, my friend! I will not rest until we find your teammates." She held Ruby and shook her.

Ruby forced a smile on her face. "Uh! That's really nice of you Penny, uh, but we'r-we're okay. Right guys?" She glanced to where Yang and Weiss were watching, only to see that they have disappeared. Another tumbleweed blew past.

"It sure is windy today." Penny noted.

* * *

Blake, Sun, and Ochre walked away from the cafe, each trying to sort out their thoughts. Sun was the first to break the silence.

"So, what's the plan now?" He asked. Blake exhaled. "I still don't believe the White Fang is behind these robberies. They've never needed that much dust before."

Ochre was only half listening. " _Oh Blake, Sun, how would you react if I told you that someone is using the White Fang as part of a bigger conspiracy to take down the kingdoms and simultaneously destroy humanity. ...Nah, they'd think I'm crazy."_

She came out of her thoughts when she almost bumped into a lamppost. Now fully aware of her surroundings, she could clearly see Blake and Sun looking at her with weird expression, Blake's also with suspicion. They had stopped walking, and she was a few feet ahead of them.

 _Oh. Did I say that out loud? I have really gotta be more careful about that..._

She tried her best to act as if nothing had happened. "Heh, Sorry. Lost in thought. Did I miss anything?" She walked closer to the two, and they filled her in.

* * *

Yang and Weiss bid the shopkeeper goodbye as the door closed and a little bell rang. He hadn't known where their friends were either.

"*Sigh* This is hopeless." Yang said. She turned to Weiss, who was still silent. "You really don't care if we find them, do you?"

"Don't be stupid. Of course I do. I'm just afraid of what they'll say when we find them." She walked ahead, before turning back to say, "The innocent never run, Yang."

Yang gave her a look. "You don't actually think Ochre was a member too, do you?" Weiss returned the look. "No, definitely not. In fact, I will be very surprised if she was. But we don't know why she ran after Blake."

"She was probably just worried about her." Yang said.

Weiss sighed before saying, "We'll see."

* * *

"So...Blake is your friend?" Penny asked Ruby.

"*Sigh* Yes Penny."

"But you're mad at her?" Penny asked confusedly.

"Yes! W-well I'm not, but Weiss is."

"Is 'she' friends with Blake?"

"Well that's kind of up in the air right now." Ruby told her.

"But why?" Penny asked.

"*Sigh* Well you see, Blake might not be who we thought she was."

"*LOUD GASP* IS SHE A MAN?!" Penny whispered.

"No, no, Penny, she's n- I don't know what she is. She didn't exactly talk to us before running off. And Ochre didn't exactly tell us why she followed."

"Is Weiss mad at Ochre too?"

Ruby had to think about that for a minute. "No...I don't think so. But we're all confused about why _she_ left."

"I don't have a lot of friends, but if I did, I would want them to talk to me about things." Penny said.

Ruby looked down, thinking about how weird Ochre had been acting before Yang talked to her, and about Blake running away.

"Me too Penny." She sighed, turned and kept walking. Penny wasn't far behind her.

* * *

 **Timeskip brought to you by Chibi Yang sparring with Ochre** (Too soon?)

Blake sat on top of a building next to the docks intently watching the crates full of dust. So far, nothing unusual had happened.

Ochre taps Blake on the shoulder and says, "Sun just got here." Blake looked behind her, and sure enough, there he was. Hopping on the rooftops to get to them.

"Hey, did I miss anything?" He asks as he crouched next to them.

"Not really." Blake answers. "They've offloaded all the crates from the boat. Now they're just sitting there."

"Cool. I stole ya both some food." He holds up an apple. Ochre grabs it, wipes it on her shirt, and takes several bites.

"Do you always break the law without a second thought?" Blake asked Sun.

"Hey, weren't you in a cult or something?"

Both Blake and Ochre glared daggers at him.

"Okay, too soon." He says sheepishly.

Ochre takes another bite before throwing her half-eaten apple at Sun. It hits him on the side of his head.

Before he could say anything to her, a bullhead flew over them, it's propellers creating a large gust of wind. The lights on it swivel around as if inspecting the dust shipment, before turning off as the bullhead landed.

Sure enough, out steps a faunus wearing the White Fang insignia. Blake's eyes widen and she mutters "Oh no."

Ochre narrows her eyes, and Sun asks "Is that them?"

"Yes. It's them." Blake responds with dread in her tone.

A few more faunus stepped out of the bullhead, all wearing the insignia. "All right. Grab the tow cables." Another member calls to the others.

"You really didn't think they were behind it, did you?" Sun asks, glancing towards Blake.

"No." She responded. "I think deep down I knew. I just didn't want to be right."

"Hey! What's the hold up?" Someone from below yelled. Blake's eyes snapped open and widened in horror when she saw who it was.

Roman Torchwick stepped out of the bullhead and yelled "We're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment, soooo... why don't you animals try and pick up the pace."

"This isn't right." Blake said. "The White Fang would never work with a human. Especially not one like that." She stood up and pulled out her blade.

Jumping down and taking cover behind a crate, she slowly inched closer to where Torchwick is.

"No you idiot! This isn't a leash!" Roman berates a faunus holding a tow cable.

Blake darts over to him, sliding her sword in front of his throat.

"What the-? Oh for f-" He starts to exclaim.

"Nobody move!" Blake calls. A few White fang member pull out guns or swords and point them at Blake.

"Woah! Take it easy there little lady." Roman says, eyeing her sword. Blake glares at the four faunus that surround her. Keeping one hand on her blade, she pulls off her bow, revealing her cat ears.

The bow blows in the wind until Ochre grabs it and puts it in her pocket. _Blake's going to need that later._ She thinks to herself. Then she pulls out the scroll she was given, and started dialing a few numbers.

Sun jumps down to hide behind a crate and wait for his moment to move in.

"Brothers of the White Fang." Blake calls to the other faunus. "Why are you aiding this scum?" They lower their weapons.

"Kid, didn't you get the memo?" Roman says . "What are you talking about?" Blake asks with no small amount of hostility in her voice.

"The White Fang and I are going in on a joint business venture together." Blake moves her sword closer, but a brief moment from earlier replays in her head. " _Oh Blake, Sun, how would you react if I told you that someone is using the White Fang as part of a bigger conspiracy to take down the kingdoms and simultaneously destroy humanity."_

No. She could think more on that later. "Tell me what it is, or I'll put an end to your little operation." She demanded.

The turbine engines of a bullhead whirred above, and a strong gust of wind tousled everyone's hair. Dirt and debris blew past.

"I wouldn't exactly call it a 'little' operation." Roman said, staring up at the two bullheads flying above them.

The giant machines lowered and started picking up the dust shipment. While Blake was momentarily distracted, Roman took his chance and fired his cane. The explosion tore through the ground and sent Blake flying.

The resulting explosion was heard many miles away. Penny and Ruby, who were already on their way to the docks, heard it and picked up their pace.

"Oh no..." Ruby moaned.

* * *

Blake is on the ground, her vision and mind spinning. Roman fires another flare at her, but Blake gets up and rolls out of the way at the last second. Explosions impact the crates behind her. She back flipped and used her shadow clones to narrowly dodge the projectiles before taking cover behind another crate.

With the White Fang members spread out, Sun jumped in, while Ochre finished up her phone calls.

Roman moved to chase Blake, when a banana fell on his head. He groaned in annoyance and threw the banana to the side, just in time to be mushed onto the ground by Sun jumping on him.

Sun flips and lands on his feet. "Leave her alone." He says, hostility dripping from his voice.

He is then surrounded by White Fang soldiers, all pointing their weapons at him.

"You are not the brightest banana in the bunch, are ya kid?" Roman asked. The White Fang members advance, but none can even get close to Sun.

He punches and kicks them, bouncing off and rolling onto his feet, using the momentum to pull out his weapon.

He whacks the White Fang members, knocking them out instantly. Roman then starts shooting flares at him, which he deflects, and Blake uses the opportunity to jump in, yelling "He's mine!"

She strikes with her sword multiple times before he gets a few good hits on her. She falls back, and Sun jumps in. His poles separate into gun-chucks that whip around, barraging Roman with bullets. The guy is able to keep up with the strikes, but he gets hit by a couple of them.

There is also the sharp ping of getting hit with projectiles from another angle, so Roman backs up, and realizes that someone was sniping at him from a distance.

Blake knocks him back, and he lands behind anothe crate. Looking up, he sees another crate being suspended by a towing cable, and he shoots it, sending it hurtling down to where Blake and Sun are standing. They jump out of the way, if just barely, but the debris keeps them distracted and disoriented enough for Roman to recover.

He looks in the direction the bullets are coming from, and sees a girl in red sniping at him. Then he realizes it's the girl he fought at dust 'til Dawn.

She turns around for a second as a girl with orange hair climbs up on the crate with her and starts asking questions. Roman takes her moment of distraction and shoots a flare at her. She doesn't realize it until it's too late.

But it doesn't hit her. It impacts somewhere off to the side, and another familiar girl with dark brown hair is standing in front of Ruby and Penny. She is wielding a sword that no one except Ruby has seen before. Roman growls in frustration.

"Are you okay Ruby?" Ochre asks, not taking her eyes off Roman. Ruby isn't harmed, but she's obviously tired. She looked like she used her semblance the whole way here, which would probably be exhausting.

Penny narrows her eyes at Roman, and steps forward. "Penny wait!" Ruby says and attempts to grab the girls' arm, but she shrugs it off.

"Don't worry Ruby. I'm combat ready." Penny assures her, turning to face Roman.

Ruby attempts to dissuade her, but Ochre puts a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Penny can handle herself." She says confidently, a small smile on her face.

Blake and Sun get back up, weapons at the ready again. He glances to them, then glances up to Penny, who has swords coming out of her back. Little red standing behind her had that dangerous looking scythe.

Roman realizes he's completely outnumbered, and commands the White Fang member to attack, while he runs to get in a Bullhead.

That brunette haired girl he also fought at Dust 'til Dawn stands in front of him. She has her sword at the ready, but holds it as if she's not quite used to using it. The rest of the students are completely preoccupied with the sheer amount of White Fang members there are. Both the ones that just came in, and ones that recovered from earlier.

Now it was just him and her.

He starts out by pointing his cane and firing two of his last few flares, both of which Ochre deflects with her sword. She swings it like a baseball bat, and isn't holding it correctly when she runs at him.

Her swings are rather sloppy, like she has no experience using a sword. Heck, she probably didn't. She was fighting hand to hand when he saw her at Dust 'til Dawn.

He is quickly able to disarm her, and her sword goes flying out of her hand. He swung his cane at her, which she managed to catch. He fires another flare at her, the recoil yanking the cane out of her hands.

Then he shoved the blunt end of his cane towards her before she could attempt to catch it again. It connects, sending her flying into a crate. She lays limp on the ground for a moment, before getting back up, and looking around for him. But he is already in the bullhead.

He shoots his final flare at her before she can fully recover, and doesn't stay long enough to see how bruised she will be when it hits her.

* * *

As Ruby, Penny, Blake, and Sun finish up with the last of the White Fang, they hear a few explosions where Roman fan off to. They ran over there as fast as they could, to see the bullhead flying off, and Ochre laying on the ground, battered and beaten with a few burn marks on her and as well as all over the ground around her.

She moans in pain, but then they hear sirens in the distance. Blake and Ruby support her as they walk in the direction of the sounds.

The police came and arrested all the White Fang members that were left behind.

"Hey, Blake?" Ochre asked, getting the car faunus' attention. She held out Blake's ribbon. "I believe this is yours."

Smiling, Blake took it and retied the bow around her car ears. They were taking a moment to rlax, until they saw Weiss and Yang.

The two approach the group, and Ruby is the first to start speaking, launching into a jumble of words. Ochre doesn't talk, but stands up with Blake.

"Look Weiss it's not what you think she explained the whole thing you see she doesn't actually wear a bow she has kitty ears and they're actually really cute."

Weiss walks right past her and up to Blake, who also launches into a flurry of words.

"Weiss, I want you to know that I'm no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was-"

"Stop." Weiss immediately cut her off. "Do you know how long we've been searching for you two?"

Blake looks like she wants to say something, but Ochre whispered " _rhetorical question_." In her ears, and her words died on her tongue.

"Twelve hours." Weiss answers her own question. "That means I had twelve hours to think about this. And in those twelve hours, I've decided. .."

Yang and Ruby glanced at each other worriedly. Blake looked a little unsure, but Ochre was completely and utterly calm.

"I don't care." The heiress stated.

"You don't care?" Blake asked, somewhat caught off guard.

"You said you're not one of them anymore, right?"

"No, I haven't been since I was younger-" Blake started to say.

"Upupupup! I don't want to hear it." Weiss cut her off. "All I want to know, is that the next time something big comes up, you'll come to your teammates, and not some-" She glares at Sun as she is about to say that, but catches herself. "Someone else." Is what she says instead.

Yang and Ruby smile, Blake Ochre and Weiss are not far behind.

"Yeah! Team Rwby is back together!" Ruby cheerfully chimes in.

Weiss turns to our resident monkey faunus, and points a finger at him. "I'm still not sure how I feel about you."

He laughs nervously.

 _But we all know how she's going to feel about his blue-haired teammate._ Ochre thinks with a small smirk. 😏

"Hey wait." Ruby asks. "Where's Penny?"

* * *

 **Somewhere else...**

"You should know better than to go running around in a strange city." A man says.

"Yes sir." The girl quietly replies.

They start driving off.

"Your time will come soon Penny." He assures the girl .

The car drives off like it was never even there to begin with.

* * *

Somewhere in the school, Ozpin is watching live footage of what happened. The video is then replaced by someone contacting him. More specifically, Qrow. But he only leaves a short message.

 _ **Queen has pawns**_

Ozpin wonders what it could mean.

* * *

Back at the docks, Blake pulls Ochre aside and asks to talk to her.

When they are a fair distance from everyone else, Ochre sits down on a bench and asks, "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Ochre... I want to know what's going on." She says.

Ochre tries not to look flustered. "...What do you mean?" She says, her voice unintentionally going up another octave.

"Before Yang talked to you in the infirmary, you were acting... strange. The way you reacted to the forever fall trip was like you already knew what had happened. You didn't know how to use a scroll, which in and of itself is weird considering most people, especially those who train to become Huntsmen and Huntresses are usually taught how to use one." She paused for a moment

"And what you said earlier about the White Fang stuck with me."

Her yellow eyes locked into Ochre's not-quite black ones.

The brunettes mouth opened and closed, but no words came out. Opened and closed. Opened and closed. Like a fish. Completely at a loss for words. Blake knew she had hit the nail on the head.

Blake have to give Ochre a moment to collect her thoughts, but they were a jumbled mess that she couldn't sort through.

To Blake, it looked like she was having an argument with herself, before the look in her eyes hardened with her resolve.

"Blake," Ochre gestured to the bench she was on. "Sit down. This might take a while."


	14. Strengthening Bonds

As Yang, Ochre and Blake sit on a bed in Team RWBY's dorm, Ochre is talking about her memories of the weather in her hometown back on Earth to her curious teammates.

"...In the fall, it's beautiful with the leaves falling all around you like snow, and the leaves already on the ground being blown downhill towards you in swaths like ocean waves." Ochre rambled to Yang and Blake. "The leaves aren't just red. They're orange and yellow and brown too, it's a cascade of autumn colors that could rival the Forever Fall. Then, it turns to Winter, and all the trees are completely leafless. Most of the grass is usually dead too. But when it snows, troublesome as it may be to walk to school, the layers of white on top of everything just reflecting off the sun, or whatever light filters through the clouds is really pretty too."

"It sounds like it came right out of one of the books I'm reading." Blake said in awe.

Ochre chuckled wistfully. "It's home."

Yang frowned. "Do you miss it?" She asked.

"...Yeah, I do." Ochre reluctantly replied.

She stared at the ground as Weiss came into the room and approached her.

"Ochre." She said. The brunette snapped to attention at the heiresses no-nonsense tone of voice. "It's time for your lesson." Then she briskly walked out of the room.

Blake and Yang gave her questioning expressions.

"Oh yeah... That." She said. "Well I asked Weiss to teach me how to use a sword, because she's really good at it, and I don't know anything." She scratched the back of her neck. "Now that I think about it, trying to stop Roman without knowing how to use a sword was _not_ one of my better ideas.

Yang still had a questioning expression. "Why do you need to learn how to use a sword? I've seen you fight hand to hand. And pretty damn well at that."

Blake spoke up. "Actually, I _did_ see you using a sword at the docks. Where did you get that?"

A sheepish expression appeared on Ochre's face. "Ha ha... Ya know how me an' Ruby have been disappearing over the past few weeks?" Yang had asked about it a while ago, but she had wanted to keep it a surprise.

"... "

"..."

"That's what you were doing?" Yang asked.

"Well, I started off by myself. But I wasn't getting anywhere. Then one day, I met Ruby in there doing weapon maintenance. She asked me what I was doing and when I told her, she practically shoved me out of the way and started working on the sword." Honestly, calling her a weapon nut is an understatement.

Ochre pulled out the sword to show Blake and Yang.

It looked like a normal longsword. Although, if you looked closely, you could see lines in the blade indicating that it could fold into itself. The handle was bulkier than the average sword too, but other than that, it looked as normal as Juane's Crocea Mors.

"I did want a normal sword, but the addition of a whip ain't nothin' to complain about, even If I have no idea how to use a whip. I can learn. She also taught me the _very_ basics of swordfighting, because she had to start with one before she learned how to fight with a scythe." Ochre sheepishly scratched the back of her head. "I got my butt whooped at the docks anyways." Blake put a tentative hand on her shoulder.

Yang almost looked distressed. "But-but, you fought so well without a weapon. Almost _no one_ does that anymore."

"I didn't want to be at a disadvantage against people who do have weapons. Sorry Yang." Ochre said.

She nodded.

"Now, I've gotta get to practice. See ya two later."

She grabbed her sword and ran out of the dorm.

* * *

 _Why do I feel like I'm forgetting something_... Ochre wondered as she sat on the roof. The sun had gone down awhile ago, and now she stared up at the starry tapestry that was the night sky. Her sword lay next to her, all but forgotten.

As she sat there, she could, for just a moment let down any and all mental barriers she had put up, and just relax. The closest thing to this she could do, was in the presence of only Yang or Blake. They both knew the truth about her.

Now that she had thought of the cat-faunus, the girl unintentionally swam around in her thoughts. She couldn't help her mind from wandering back to her conversation with Blake. Right after the battle at the docks. The one where she convinced the the former White-Fang member that she was from another world.

* * *

 _"Blake," She gestured to the bench she was on. "Sit down. This might take a while."_

 _The cat faunus had complied, a patient expression on her face. Ochre reluctantly met her eyes. "You wanna know what's going on?"_

 _Blake nodded resolutely._

 _Inhale, Exhale. Inhale, Exhale._

 _"Alright." One more inhale. "I'm from another world where this entire place is the setting of an anime."_

 _Blake was stoic as she processed this. Then she gave a look that said, 'Are you serious?' Ochre sighed.  
_

 _"Don't believe me? Fine I'll prove it."_

 _Blake just continued staring at her as if to say 'get on with it.'_

 _Ochre locked eyesight with the cat-faunus. Then, with no trace of emotion, she said "Adam."_

 _Blake paled, and her mouth popped open in surprise. But then she stopped to think and consider it. Within the White Fang, her and Adam's...relationship...wasn't exactly kept secret. But that was **within** the **White Fang** only. Anyone outside them wouldn't have a clue. And there's no way Ochre had been involved in the White Fang. She was clearly human, impressive sense of hearing aside, and there's no way the other members would let a human join.  
_

 _"I...need more proof." Blake finally managed to get out. She was fairly certain that Ochre wouldn't just make up stuff like that. But the idea was so incredible, so unbelievable, that she found herself not quite willing to believe her teammate yet._

 _"Still don't believe me? Okay I can give you something else." Blake just kept her eyes locked on Ochre'. And she kept her almost black eyes trained on Blake. She opened her mouth and said "Ili-  
_

* * *

The door to the roof behind her swung open, pulling Ochre out of her flashback. It suddenly clicked in her head what she had forgotten.

This was when and where Pyrrha had her lessons with Jaune.

As Pyrrha emerged on the roof, Ochre had moved herself to the side to give her space.

Pyrrha looked around, rather surprised to see Ochre, but the brown haired girl was not an unwelcome sight.

She hadn't spoken to the brunette very much, but when she had, Ochre treated her like a normal person. Like she was as normal as any other student in Beacon. It was a nice change of pace. Even if she didn't know her very well, she had rather enjoyed their talks.

"Oh, hey Pyrrha." Ochre greeted her with a friendly wave. "Don't mind me. I'll stay out of your way so you can train Jaune." And she returned to staring at the sky.

Pyrrha opened her mouth to correct her.

"Actually, Jaune is... *Insert clip of Jaune hitting on Weiss* ...busy... with, something else." Her shoulders drooped.

Ochre chuckled inwardly. Both at the hilarity of the potential situation, and with the pensiveness of it. " _Boys_ , am I right?" She voiced out loud.

She couldn't see Pyrrha's reaction, as her eyes were tracing a line of stars that were too close together to not be a constellation, she couldn't remember noticing them before though. But she did still manage to hear Pyrrha's response.

"Yes, I suppose." The crimson haired spartan said with a note of sadness in her voice.

Ochre gave up trying to figure out which constellation it was, as it hovered at the edge of her memory, just out of her each, but no amount of trying to grab it had been working. _I'll remember it later._ She thought to herself, as was normal for her, and she walked over to Pyrrha.

She stopped when she was standing next to the contemplative girl, and put an arm around her shoulders.

Pyrrha's emerald green eyes rose to meet hers.

 _"Don't worry Pyrrha._ " Ochre whispered with a smile on her face. _"Someday, he **will** notice you."_ She took satisfaction at seeing Pyrrha's face turn as crimson as her hair.

She stepped back to wait for the spartan to compose herself. When she did, she turned toward Ochre, a smile on her face. "Thank you, Ochre." She said, happiness dancing in her eyes.

Ochre just smirked, turned around, and left the roof. Pyrrha made no move to stop her.

* * *

When Yang got back to the dorm, it was late. But apparently, the rest of the team was going to be even more late, because Ochre was the only one in the room. She was laying on her sleeping bag, staring up at the ceiling with unfocused eyes and half-lidded like she was about to fall asleep.

"Hey, Ochre." Yang said, the brunette slowly swiveled her head to look at the blond. "Hey." She said back.

Yang seemed to be deciding whether to ask something. "I was curious about what your real name is."

That caught Ochre off guard a little, and her eyebrows involuntarily creased. She hadn't brought that up, because even back home her name was an odd one. It would probably be even weirder here in Remnant. She didn't want to be judged. But she must have let it slip at some point when she was talking to Blake and Yang. She was hesitant to say anything.

But Yang was her friend. Which is why she quietly said, in an almost whispery voice, "Celene."

Thankfully, It was enough for Yang to hear, and she had a thoughtful look on her face.

"Celene, huh?" * She turned to Ochre and smiled. "that's a nice name." *

To this day Ochre would blame it on her sleep addled brain, but at Yang's compliment, she couldn't help but blush.

* * *

The next day went by normally. She had lessons with Weiss, then later in the day, Ruby wanted her help making cookies. Sometime later she went up to the roof to practice with her whip, and stayed up there until the sky was once again a twinkling canvas of stars.

Ochre wasn't aware of how much time had passed, but it must've been awhile, because her eyes were getting droopy as she stared straight up at the shattered moon. Yet another reminder of her predicament.

She didn't register the door to the roof opening, and so was very surprised when a heavily armored person with a ponytail of long crimson hair sat next to her right.

"Beautiful night, isn't it?" Pyrrha asked her. She nodded and smiled at the spartan. "You didn't have anything better to do?" Ochre asked.

"Well Yang told me you'd be up here," She said. "And you were all by yourself. I thought I'd stargaze with you." And she looked up at the moon that was reflected in her emerald eyes.

Someone else slid into the spot on the left. And Ochre looked over to see a mane of wild blond hair, and lilac eyes staring at the broken moon.

"H-hey Yang." She stuttered in her sleepy state.

Yang turned towards her with her usual smirk on her face. "Hey Ochre." She said. Then her eyebrows creased as she asked "What were you doing up here all by yourself?"

"Stargazing." Was her reply.

Another bit of shuffling to Yang's left revealed Blake sitting down and staring up at the broken moon as well. Her book was closed on her lap, as it was too dark to read anything. But the sliver of silver in the sky along with all the broken pieces hovering next to it were reflected in her amber eyes.

"We all thought you'd be lonely up here." Blake said.

Ochre with her sleepy brain was trying to wrap her mind around all this. She couldn't have heard right. Few people outside her family were this nice to her. Never wanting to spend any time around her unless they had to.

And here were a few girls around her age that, completely of their own volition, were sitting up here stargazing with her.

It was the happiest she'd been in a long time.

Leaning backwards, Ochre cleared her throat, and began singing,

" _Now it's time to say goodbye..."_

* * *

 **I'm _baaaaaack_!**

 **Whew! Sorry I've been gone so long. It's been, what? Almost... 3 months now?**

 **Geez... sorry guys. Honestly, it was mostly just my own laziness that prevented me from getting this out earlier. Procrastination is a thing, and this probably won't be the last time it comes into play.**

 **This chapter is a crossover between volumes 1 & 2, hence the song at the end. I couldn't think of a better time to add in the smaller, slightly less plot-relevant escapades between Team RWBY(O) and/or Team JNPR.**

 **So with that out of the way, did anyone catch the Undertale reference? If you did, please tell me in a review. I would love to know if any fellow Undertale fans are out there reading this.**

 **Again, I'm sorry for taking so long with this, but with any luck (and DETERMINATION) the next one will be out sooner.**

 **See you all in the next chapter!**

 **(UNDERTALE 4 LIFE)**


	15. Food and Conspiracies everywhere

*Thump*

*Thump*Thump* Went Ochre's fists against the punching bag hanging from the ceiling, making it rock forward slightly.

"Hey Ochre!" Yang called as she entered the training room.

"Oh, hi Yang." Ochre said, not turning to face the blonde.

Yang stood and watched for a moment, before pushing Ochre to the side and saying "Watch how it's done."

She cracked her knuckles, and punched the bag with her back hand. It swung forward like a pendulum, and Yang had to move out of the way when it came back around.

She looked to the top of the bag, where there was a dial, and seeing a 2, said "Wow, you have the settings _really_ low." Then she turned it up to a 7, and started launching punches into the bag. It rocked forward and back slightly, but with increasing distance as Yang punched it harder.

Ochre stared back as Yang punched the bag. Finally, having her fill of beating the bag up, Yang turned it down to a four, and turned to face Ochre.

"When you punch, you have to do it with your whole body. You're just using your arms, and so your punches aren't that strong."

Ochre sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck. "Sensei did say I have to work on that."

Yang stepped away from the punching bag, and watched as Ochre turned her whole body into the bag with each punch. The punching bag rocked back and forth slightly, and then a bit more as time went on.

Finally, Ochre stepped back, away from the bag, her breathing slightly ragged. "How was that?" She asked Yang.

A small smile appeared on Yang's face. She shrugged and said "It was medi _ochre._ "

Ochre's face fell. "Yeah, I guess... wait a minute..." she said, then realised what Yang had said.

She turned to face the blonde, who couldn't seem to keep her chuckles to herself.

Ochre walked right up to Yang, and glared up at the blonde's lilac eyes. Now I say up, because Yang is a few inches taller than her, so she had to angle her face upwards to meet Yang's eyes.

"Yang..." She said with a stoic face. "I don't mind puns. Really, I don't." Yang just kept snickering to herself, seemingly not paying any attention to Ochre. So she fixed that.

She walked until she was practically nose to nose with Yang, before gripping the girl's shoulders

and promptly sweeping her off her feet.

"But _please_ don't make any with my name in them."

Yang nodded, indicating she was heard, and Ochre offered a hand and pulled Yang up.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Yang apologized. "Do you think you could teach me that sometime?"

"The sweep I did?" Ochre questioned. She shrugged. "Sure."

"Thanks. By the way, I originally came in here to tell you that it's lunchtime. The rest of the team and Team JNPR is waiting for us in the cafeteria."

The two girls walked out of the room side by side.

* * *

Over in Vale, the shop owner of From Dust til Dawn was high up on a ladder adjusting a reopening banner. Someone bumped into the ladder as he was climbing down, and he hit the ground with an audible *thump*.

A girl with green hair and red eyes helped him up, and she was the only person in the immediate vicinity.

"Sorry, I'm not from around here." She told him. He smiled and nodded as if to say it's okay that she bumped into the ladder.

She held up a slip of paper with something written on it and asked for directions. The man pointed her in the direction of the shop she was looking for, and she walked off with a thank you.

Around the corner was her partner, who said "I knew you were lost, Emerald."

"Shut up Mercury." The green haired girl said distastefully. She held a wallet filled with money up to his face. "I will literally _pay_ you to shut up. "

Mercury glanced to the wallet before his eyes found the green haired girl's. "That's not your money." He said.

Emerald cocked her head and held the wallet right in front of his nose. "No, but it could be yours for just _five minutes_ of silence."

"No deal." He immediately said.

Emerald scowled. "Do you really like the sound of your own voice that much?" She spat heatedly.

He opened his mouth. "No wait, don't answer that." She quickly added. Then she turned around and headed in the direction of their destination, Mercury following behind muttering "Yeah, she wants me."

Before long, their destination is revealed to be a small bookshop. They stepped inside, and Emerald went up to the counter and rang the bell.

A dark haired man came out, balancing stacks of books in his arms. As he set them down he said "Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade. Home to every book under the sun. How may I-"

He turned around and paused at the sight of the green haired girl and the gray haired boy.

"How may I help you." He finished saying after regaining his composure.

"Just browsing." Mercury called from the front of the shop as he slammed a book closed.

"Actually.." Emerald began. "I was wondering if you have any copies of the The thief and the butcher?"

"...Yes we do." The man answered. Emerald smiled a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "That's great." She said, almost sarcastically.

"...do you want a copy?" The man asked awkwardly.

Instead of answering the question, Emerald asked "Ooh, how about Clan of the Cave Bear in soft cover version?"

"He's got that." Mercury called from near the door as he held up a really big book and slammed it closed. "Hard cover version too." Then he threw it on the floor. "No pictures." he muttered. "Hey, you got any comic books?" He asked the guy.

"Near the front." The owner said.

"Options are nice." Emerald said as she put a hand to her chin.

"Oooh. What about Ego Homini Lupus?"

The man thought for a moment, before hesitantly answering "I, uh... Don't believe we carry that one."

Mercury snapped another book shut as Emerald asked "What is this place called again?"

"Tukson's book trade." The man answered.

"And, you're Tukson?" Emerald asked, smiling that fake smile again.

"Yes..." Tukson said, slightly uncomfortable with the questions.

"Then I take it, you're the one that came up with the catchphrase."

"Yes."

"What was it again?" Mercury asked from his spot in front of the door.

Tukson sighed. "Tukson's book trade. Home to every book under the sun." He said rolling his eyes.

"Except, Ego Homini Lupus." Mercury said.

"Its... just a catchphrase kid."

"It's false advertising!" Mercury said back loudly.

Emerald's red eyes scanned him. "You shouldn't make promises you can't keep, Tukson."

As Mercury turned the windows dark with the window's light switches, Emerald said "I hear you're leaving. Moving all the way to Vacuo."

Tukson's eyes widened at what came next. "Your brothers in the White Fang aren't happy about that. And neither are we."

The windows were completely black to anyone outside. No one would be able to witness what was about to happen.

"You know who we are, don't you?" Emerald asked.

"Yes."

"Then you know why we're here?"

"...Yes."

Mercury smirked. "Are you gonna fight back?"

Tukson didn't do anything for a minute. Then he yelled "Yes!" As small claws shot out from his hands, he jumped on the counter, and pounced at Emerald.

But she just stepped to the side, putting Tukson in direct line of Mercury, who promptly fired the gauntlets on his legs, slamming his foot into Tukson's face.

The two exit the bookshop, and no one was any the wiser.

* * *

"-a faint smile lights up her face and she says, 'because it was crawling across my foot.'"

Most of Team Rwby, minus the R, and all of Team Jnpr either laughed or smiled at the story. Ochre sat back, satisfied with their reactions.

For just a moment, she peeked over Weiss's shoulder, where Blake was staring at her notebook. A closer look would have revealed that Blake was actually staring at a sketch of Adam, a sketch of a rose just below that, and on the other page, was a sketch of the original, more passive White Fang symbol. Even as she insisted she was studying her notes.

"Lame!" Was Yang's response to that as a piece of food was flung through the air, and caught with her mouth.

That was when Ruby entered, slamming a humongous binder on the table.

Written on it was Vytal Festival Activities. Property of Weiss Schnee.

Except that had been crossed out, and written in bright red marker was BEST DAY EVER activities.

"Friends, sister. Weiss..." Ruby said, ignoring Weiss's indignant "Hey!" And continuing on with her speech.

"Four score and seven minutes ago, I had a dream. A dream that one day, the four of us would come together as a team and have the most fun, anyone has ever had...Ever!"

"Did you steal my binder?" Weiss questioned.

"Weiss, she's not a crook." Ochre quietly said from her spot next to the heiress.

"What are you talking about?" Blake asked. To which Ruby responded

"I'm talking about starting our semester off with a Bang!"

"I always start my semesters off with a _Yang._ " And take a guess who added that in.

Weiss groaned, Blake looked away, Ruby was silent. Ochre, admittedly, did chuckle quietly.

Apparently, Nora didn't share her opinion on the pun, because she launched an apple at Yang's face shouting "Boo!"

Ruby continued her speech before anything could escalate.

"Look, guys, we've had a good few weeks. And between more exchange students arriving, and the tournament at the end of the year, our second semester is gonna be great!" She finished with gusto.

Ochre, despite hearing this already, couldn't help but want to sit up and listen to Ruby's inspiring speech. She had really grown into her role as leader.

"But classes start again tomorrow. So for today, I've planned some team activities for us."

Weiss turned her attention back to her leader. "I don't know whether to be proud, or terrified of what you might have planned." , the heiress voiced.

While this was going on, Yang angrily threw the apple back at Nora with a scowl on her face.

Blake was stoic until she spoke up, saying "I don't know. I think I might sit this one out."

Weiss added "Sit out or not, I think however we spend this last day, we should do it as a team."

Ochre glanced to Yang, who's eyes widened while staring at Nora in horror and frantically waved 'no'.

Then the brunette glanced towards Nora, just in time to get a face full of pie.

* * *

"Okay, they're in here." Sun said gesturing to the cafeteria door, and the windows that were rapidly being covered with food stains.

"I'm really excited for you to meet them, so be cool okay? You'll be cool, right?"

His friend turns to him "Dude." He says, and sparkles float around his body to show just how cool he is.

"...Good point." Sun says.

The doors swing open and the two boys saunter inside just as someone yells "FOOD FIGHT!" And the two boys are almost dragged back out with the crowd of fleeing students.

When the majority of the students have gotten out, their are only two teams of four left.

* * *

From her spot behind an overturned table, she heard loud cackling and Nora shouting "I'm Queen Of The Castle!" Over and Over again from the stack of tables she and Team JNPR were standing on.

Ruby jumped on a table next to her, and there was a very loud about of "Justice will be swift, Justice will be painful." Milk splattered to the ground next to her. "IT WILL BE DELICIOUS!" Ruby screams, And the whole team, minus Ochre, issued a warcry.

As chaos raged outside her little bubble, Ochre sat and attempted to get the last of the cream off of her, scowling at how some of it had gotten stuck in her curly hair.

She ignored the splattering of food everywhere, as most of it landed on the table she was behind. But she _did_ watch the actual food fight itself.

I mean, seriously, how stiff does that bread have to be for it to be used as swords? And the leeks Ren used didn't break when he threw them. Someone slipped on ketchup, Yang's turkeys didn't come apart, Weiss used a swordfish for a rapier, Nora had a metal pole with a watermelon on the end for a hammer... Just sheer pandemonium everywhere.

Then Nora swung her makeshift Magnhild, and Weiss was hit so hard she flew across the room, crashing into one of the pillars, her aura shattering on contact.

Ruby rushed out from the pile of plates and caught her partner. And she genuinely sounded upset as she cried "Weiss? WEISS?! Don't leave me! NOOOOOOO!" The remainders of the pillar collapsed behind her.

Yang was hit into the roof by Nora, and Blake was knocked into the wall on the far side of the cafeteria by Pyrrha sending a bunch of soda cans at her. It helped that the cans were metal.

Glancing around, the rest of team RWBY lay on the ground, disoriented. Except for Ochre, but she wasn't participating.

With an anguished and determined look on her face, Ruby planted her feet on the ground, and her aura flared.

Then she took off, zooming across the cafeteria so fast she created a vortex that picked up all the food and debris and carried it with her. As she went passed Team Jnpr, it even picked them up.

The wall at the end of the cafeteria cracked from the pressure of the vortex, and all of Team Jnpr crashed and stuck to the wall as the wind pushed all the food into them.

As the winds die down, the wall is a beautiful mural of splashed colors, and the food coated members of Jnpr slid off the wall, leaving human shaped prints on the kaleidoscope of colors.

Somewhere near then entrance to the cafeteria, Sun is staring in awe with an ear-splitting grin on his face. He turns to his blue-haired partner. "I love those guys!" He says happily, while his partner glares at him with his purple soda soaked face. He looks furious, and yet not half mad and as Goodwitch who storms through the door.

Hell hath no wrath like a woman's fury I suppose.

With a wave of her riding crop, Goodwitch reorganized the room, putting all the tables back into their rows, and the mess of food is cleared off the floor.

"Children." She all but growls. "Do not play with your food." She pushes her glasses further up onto her nose as her green eyes glare holes through her students.

But they don't seem to notice. They're too busy goofing off. Ochre reluctantly joined the group, and they all start talking to each other, just becoming closer. Then Yang fell from the roof.

Walking in, Ozpin watches Ochre attempt to start a conversation with Pyrrha. He watches Yang catch her sister as she falls over in exhaustion. And he watches Glynda fume.

"Let it go." He tells her.

"They're supposed to be the defenders of the world." She says, sighing.

"And they will be. But right now, they are children. So let them play the part." Ozpin turns around and makes to exit, solemnly saying "After all, it is not a part they will get to play forever."

As he is about to leave, he feels someone's eyes boring holes into his back, so he turns around and his eyes lock onto dark brown ones.

Ochre Zinnia is staring him in the eye, her almost black orbs seeming to taunt him about how 'everyone is going to have to cast aside their parts sooner rather than later if he doesn't get off his lazy ass and do something to stop the coming storm.'

How he knows she's telling him this? I'll leave that to the readers to guess. And although he can't tell for sure what that means, now his interest is piqued.

Ozpin briefly wonders how much Ms. Zinnia knows about the 'coming storm', and resolves to find out next time he has a chance.

But he does leave, and the two teams continue with their plans for having the best day ever!

* * *

Somewhere else, where things aren't so happy or bright, a girl with green hair and a boy with gray hair make their way to their base of operations.

All around them, faunus clad in white armour and grimm masks are working. But the two people don't pay the white Fang any notice. Instead, they approach a guy with orange hair and a feathered hat. He turns to 'greet' them.

"Oh, great. She sent the kids again." He said sarcastically. "This is turning out just like the divorce."

"Pfft. Who'd ever love you?" Mercury asked, obvious dislike for the man dripping from his voice.

"Spare me the thought of you procreating..." Emerald said immediately, the same dislike dripping from her voice.

"That was a joke." Torchwick deadpanned. He walked away from the two with a piece of paper in his hand. "And perhaps this" He waved it in front of her "will tell me where you've been all day." Despite herself, Emerald checked her pockets and stared at the piece of paper.

"I'm a professional sweetheart. Pay attention, you just might learn something." Then he reads what's on the paper. "... Why do you have this address?" He questioned.

"Wouldn't you like to know." Emerald snarkily replied.

"Yea, I would. Now, where have you two been all day?"

"Cleaning up _your_ messes." Mercury says . "Or at least one of them"

"I had that under control" Torchwick growled.

"Two packed bags and a ticket out of Vale says otherwise." Mercury said back.

"Listen you little punk, if it were up to me, I'd take you and your little street-rat friend here and I'd - -"

"Do what, Roman?" Someone says from above.

When Roman sees who it is, he nervously says "Uh...Not kill them?"

"Cinder!" Emerald happily says.

"I thought I made it clear that you were to eliminate the would-be runaway." Cinder said, turning on Torchwick.

"Oh I was going to-" "He was going to escape to Vacuo. So Mercury and I took it upon ourselves to get rid of him."

Cinder held a hand up to prevent them from saying anything else. "Did I not specifically tell you two to keep your hands clean while we're in Vale?"

Emerald gazed at the ground. "Sorry Cinder, I just thought -"

"Don't _think_." Cinder said, cutting her off. "Obey."

As Emerald assures her it won't happen again, Torchwick taunts them behind Cinder's back.

Until she turned to him. "Why wasn't the job taken care of sooner?" She demanded.

Torchwick stared at her in disbelief before gesturing to all the crates of dust around them.

"Sorry if I've been a little busy stealing every speck of dust in the Kingdom!"

"You're an inspiration to every guy that wears eyeliner." Mercury said earning a glare from Torchwick.

"Look around kid. I've got this town running scared. Police stationed on every street, dust prices gone through the roof, and we're sitting here in an old warehouse with more dust crystals, vials and rounds than we could ever use."

He turned back around with his focus mostly in Cinder. "Speaking of which, ya think you could tell me what this grand master plan of yours is? Might make my next few robberies a little _smoother_."

Cinder walks up to him seductively. "Oh Roman, have a little faith." Her hand cups the bottom of his chin.

"You'll know what you need to know when you need to know it, and not a moment before." She stared into his eyes while hers glow.

"Besides, we're done with dust."

"Okay..." Torchwick voices. "Then what now?" He asks.

"We're moving." Is Cinder's response to him. "Have the white Fang clear out this building. I'll send you details and coordinates tonight."

"Coordinates?" Torchwick questions.

Cinder's blazing yellow eyes address him. "We're moving on to phase two."

And she sauntered out of the building with her two lackeys following behind her.

Torchwick watches them leave, and grabs a cigarette to light it, but his lighter isn't in his pocket.

Emerald, standing a few feet in front of him, holds his lighter up, and with her tongue sticking out at him she closes the lighter with a *Snap*

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Okay, just a quick note here. Eg** **o Homni Lupus is the name of a Rwby SI fan-fiction on this site. It's written by a guy named** Friday Knight, **and it's an awesome story, so go check it out if you have the time.**


	16. Mind Games

**A/N:** I wondered if I should even post this, and instead just finish writing the actual next chapter. But, nevertheless _this_ is what is out.

Please tell me what you think in a review or pm or whatever. I am not a psychologist, so I can't say for sure if this is how conversations like this would go.

Now, Enjoy!

* * *

 **A colonial official and his wife are hosting a large dinner party.**

 **A spirited discussion springs up between a young girl who insists that women have outgrown**  
 **the jumping-on-a-chair-at-the-sight-of-a-mouse era and a colonel who says that they haven't.**

 **"A woman's unfailing reaction in any crisis," the colonel says, "is to scream. And while a**  
 **man may feel like it, he has that ounce more of nerve control than a woman has. And that last**  
 **ounce is what counts."**

 **One of the guests does not join in the argument but watches the other guests. As he looks, he**  
 **sees a strange expression come over the face of the hostess. She is staring straight ahead, her**  
 **muscles contracting slightly. With a slight gesture she summons the servant boy standing behind**  
 **her chair and whispers to him. The boy's eyes widen and he quickly leaves the room.**  
 **Of the guests, none except that one man notices this or sees the boy place a bowl of milk on**  
 **the deck just outside the open doors.**

 **He comes to with a start. Milk in a bowl means only one thing—bait for**  
 **a snake. He realizes there must be a cobra in the room. He looks up at the rafters—the likeliest**  
 **place—but they are bare. Three corners of the room are empty, and in the fourth the servants are**  
 **waiting to serve the next course. There is only one place left—under the table.**

 **His first impulse is to jump back and warn the others, but he knows the commotion would**  
 **frighten the cobra into striking. He speaks quickly, the tone of his voice so arresting that it sobers**  
 **everyone.**

 **"I want to know just what control everyone at this table has. I will count to three**  
 **hundred—that's five minutes—and not one of you is to move a muscle. Those who move will**  
 **forfeit fifty... Lien. Ready!"**

 **The twenty people sit like stone statues while he counts. He is at two hundred and**  
 **eighty when, out of the corner of his eye, he sees the cobra emerge and make for the bowl of**  
 **milk. Screams ring out as he jumps to slam the doors safely shut.**

 **"You were right, Colonel!" the host exclaims. "A man has just shown us an example of**  
 **perfect control."**

 **"Just a minute," the American says, turning to his hostess. "Mrs. Wynnes, how did you know**  
 **that cobra was in the room?"**

 **A faint smile lights up her face as she says: "Because it was crawling across my**  
 **foot."**

* * *

Ochre could confidently say that she did not feel like she had very good nerve control. At least...not right now. She was struggling not to shake like a leaf. Why you ask? Well it's simple. She was called up to Ozpin's office and was currently sitting in a chair awaiting her fate.

For the longest time, he just seemed to stare at her, face impassive, and Ochre tried to take this time to think about the class she was currently missing on dust's compatibility with semblances. When she was called to the headmaster's office, Weiss had offered to take notes for her, and Weiss's notes were always impeccable and incredibly detailed, so there shouldn't be any problem understanding the lesson when she looked them over later.

Ozpin _still_ hadn't said anything, and, as an attempt to distract herself from her current situation, the conversation she had with Pyrrha the night before was playing through her head like a video tape as she waited.

* * *

 _She had been sitting with her legs hanging over the edge of the building, staring up at the stars and broken moon like she had been doing a lot lately._

 _Somehow, Pyrrha had managed to come up onto the roof and sit down next to her without her noticing. Damn, she was more out of it than she thought._

 _"Mind if I join you?" Pyrrha asked, and Ochre nodded. For the next few minutes they both just stargazed. Then, finally, Pyrrha broke the silence ._

 _"Its a beautiful night, isn't it?" Ochre had just nodded again as her eyes darted to look at Pyrrha._

 _Something had been eating away at her ever since earlier that day, when she glared at the back of the headmaster's head, and he turned around and stared right into her eyes as if he could read what she was thinking and feeling. It seemed to go both ways though, as she hasn't missed the barely concealed curiosity in his gaze. And she had an idea as to why._

 _She hadn't told anyone about her theories, not even Blake and Yang. One thing would lead to another, and it would probably end with them knowing the full extent of what was going to happen in Volume three. She didn't see the need to say anything about that- At least, not yet. Nothing really too bad or important had happened yet. And she was afraid of changing things this early on. But she was still desperate to tell someone._

 _"Hey, Pyrrha?" Ochre quietly asked, finally speaking up after being silent the entire time the red-haired girl was up here._

 _Pyrrha, noticing the tiniest note of desperation in Ochre's voice, was being very attentive to what Ochre was about to say. "Yes?"_

 _A moment's hesitation before Ochre was saying, "Okay..before coming to Beacon, I didn't have my aura unlocked."_

 _Pyrrha looked a little concerned, but nodded._

 _"Alright, so someone recently unlocked my aura." She gestured to Pyrrha to come closer, and whispered the name of the person. Pyrrha immediately shot up, saying the name in surprise._

 _"Yeah." Ochre grimaced, completely understanding of why Pyrrha had reacted like that. "_ _And I was wondering what aural connections like that actually entail. I mean, you unlocked Jaune's aura..."_

 _And Pyrrha calmly explained that the connection between two people's aura when one unlocks the others, often connects the two people on an emotional level._

 _"It's not anything intrusive or binding. It just lets you get an idea of what the other person is feeling."_

 _Ochre nodded. It that was the case, then he wouldn't have been able to read her thoughts, right? And yet still..._

 _"Thank you Pyrrha." Ochre said gratefully and scooted up next to the girl and wrapped her arms around her in a bear hug. Pyrrha seemed a tiny bit surprised that someone just hugged her like that. But not in a bad way, just in a way like she wasn't exactly used to it. And that made sense. She was the "Invincible Girl" after all, this seemingly untouchable person. You don't just walk up and hug a person like that._

 _Pyrrha was quick to hug back. When you're famous and well known, people flock to you. People trying to get close to you and leech off your fame. People who hail you as this unbeatable fighter, and not as a normal teen who just wants real friends._

 _She was blessed to have Team Jnpr. They all looked past her fame, and saw her for who she was. They were true friends. Their sister team, Team Rwby, all their members had become friends with_ **her** _, and not the image of her._

 _But Ochre hadn't just become friends with the real her, she had almost completely ignored the existence of 'The invisible girl.'_

 _It was very perplexing that she acted like that right from the beginning. She almost seemed like she just had no idea who exactly Pyrrha was, similar to Jaune when she first met him. Yet, when Pyrrha asked, Ochre confirmed that she did indeed know **exactly** who Pyrrha was. And she even demonstrated it by immediately becoming serious and on guard, looking at Pyrrha wearily and trying to analyze her when she asked for a sparring match to test her sword skills.._

 _But Pyrrha didn't have the mind to ponder it. It was getting late, and both girls were getting tired. So they said their goodnights, and left the roof._

 _Pyrrha, as she left, would have completely forgotten to ask about how Ochre knew she had unlocked Jaune's aura._

* * *

"Ms. Zinnia. " Ozpin spoke at last.

"Yes!" Ochre immediately said. _T_ _oo fast_... She inwardly cringed, but Ozpin only raised an eyebrow, and, **_Thank the Brothers Grimm_** he didn't push it.

He must have noticed how tense she was. "Ms. Zinnia, there is no reason to be nervous." He said. "I assure you, you are not in trouble."

That did very little to calm her nerves, but Ochre did make a show of taking deeper breaths, and she tried to loosen her shoulders a little.

"...Then why did you call me up here, headmaster?" She tentatively asked.

Ozpin smiled a supposedly warm smile. "I simply wanted to ask how Beacon is treating you."

Confusion swirled in Ochre's brain. That definitely hadn't been what she expected.

 _Keep up the schoolgirl facade._ She reminded herself, forcing her body to relax, and pretending to gush.

"Oh, Beacon's absolutely amazing!" She chirped with a big smile on her face. Then she went off to list a bunch of random things in the school, tacking on the end how amazing everything was, how it was so much more than she could have ever hoped for. Somewhere in the middle of her rant, her nervousness turned into contentment, and joy as she recalled a few things that really were amazing to her.

"And Ruby, Weiss, Yang and Blake are all the best friends/teammates I could ever have." She looked Ozpin in the eye, real gratitude shining in her gaze as she said, "Thank you so much for letting me stay here."

Ozpin seemed considerably less contemplative after that.

"Your welcome." He said amusedly before taking on a more authoritative tone. "It is good to hear that Ms. Zinnia. I-" The roars of engines of bullheads flying in the direction of the schools cut him off. A few minutes later, after the machines had landed, something on Ozpin's desk _beeped._

Ochre recognized what was going on. _Ironwood._ And she immediately pounced on the chance to escape.

"Will that be all, Sir?" She asked, staring at him knowingly.

"Yes, Ms. Zinnia. You may return to class." He said, and called "Come in."

The elevator opened, and General Ironwood stepped out.

As Ochre passed him and he gave her a passing glance, she was overcome with the desire to wipe all the contentedness out of his posture. Yes, she was still trying to lay low, but Goddamnit if she wasn't gonna say _something_.

"General." She said courteously, before dropping her voice into something slightly higher than a whisper.

Her expression schooled into something akin to concern, voice laced with worry, and perhaps the tiniest hint of disdain.

"You _**really**_ should not have brought so many bullheads."

And with that, she took her leave, leaving behind a thouroughly confused general.

* * *

 ***Checks clock.* *YAWN* Its like... Three o'clock over here. Imma get some sleep peoples hernandez... *snore***


	17. Hey! This is Library

Ochre happily skipped down the hallway to the dorm room shared by her and the rest of Team Rwby. The reason she was so happy, was because Ozpin didn't suspect anything (hopefully), and because classes had just ended early. She texted Weiss she was done, and the heiress replied that class was over and she had missed everything, but not to worry because she had taken notes that she would lend to Ochre later.

Ochre figured she and Weiss would run into each other in the hallway as she made her way back to the dorm. So imagine her surprise when she ran into Ruby.

"Hey, Ochre! There you are! I have Weiss's notes right here." And she shook a couple of flimsy pages of this world's version of loose-leaf paper that had small, evenly spaced, linear lines of the _tiny_ cursive handwriting that could only have belonged to Weiss.

"Thank you Ruby!" Ochre said with a smile as she took hold of the papers. Then a thought occurred and an eyebrow furrowed. "May I ask why you are the one to give me this and not Weiss herself?" Ochre questioned.

Ruby launched into an explanation. "Weiss got held up by Jaune, and I wanted to get you the notes as soon as possible cause you're my teammate, and I wouldn't want a teammate falling behind."

"Wow." Ochre said in when Ruby finished. "You've really grown into the role of leader."

Ruby blushed modestly, and started muttering about the rest of the team helping her.

"I mean it though... You've come a long way Ruby..." Ochre quietly said to herself.

"What was that?" Ruby asked, not having heard what Ochre said.

"Oh, nothing." The brunette dismissed. Ruby shrugged and made to run ahead with her semblance, but Ochre's call of, "wait!" Had her stopping so suddenly there was smoke where her shoes had come into contact with the floor.

"Yeah Ochre?" She asked, giving the brunette her full attention.

Ochre hesitated. "Um... I-I was just wondering...

I mean, this is kind of a silly question..." A small nod to continue.

"...Do you believe in magic?"

Ruby seemed a little confused at the question, and her eyebrows furrowed as she turned to answer.

But before she could say anything Ochre took her expression as a no. "Alright. I get it." She looked down at the floor with a rejected frown.

"Wait, nonono!" Ruby scrambled to say, seeing Ochre's sad expression and probably feeling like she had let the brunette down. "It's not that I don't..."

Ochre waited a moment, eyes scanning the walls and ceiling of the hallway outside their dorm for for the hundredth time. And when it seemed like Ruby had let her sentence fizzle out, she started saying. "Well, whether you do or don't, I wanted to tell you a story."

Ruby immediately closed her mouth, and, somewhat recalling Qrow's words at the end of Volume three, Ochre began.

"Remnant's full of legends and stories. Some true, some made up... Some embellished. But most of 'em have at least a little of the truth in them.

"There's one in particular I feel you should know about." She paused for emphasis.

"Far back before huntsmen, before kingdoms, heck, possibly before even dust, it was said those with Silver eyes were destined to be warriors." She slightly tilted her head to see Ruby listening with rapt attention.

"The creatures of Grimm were afraid of these Silver Eyed Warriors. It was said even a single look from them was enough to strike a Grimm down." Ochre stopped talking, staring at the ground, and muttered, "Of course, that last part's exaggerated..."

Then she looked up, and realized that she and Ruby had stopped outside their dorm. "Oh. We're already here." She said, taking out her scroll and holding it up to the door. Then she stepped aside and bowed while making a 'go on gesture, snapping Ruby out of her daze. "My liege."

"...What?"

Ochre rolled her eyes. "My Leader." She simplified.

"Oh..." Ruby breathed, and walked inside. A quick glance inside showed Yang playing a game on her scroll on her bed, and Blake reading a book on hers. But Weiss wasn't there.

"Weiss should have been back by now." Ruby noted, slightly worriedly. If Weiss had to go somewhere, she would've texted them on her scroll.

"I'll go find her." Ochre offered, and ran off.

* * *

 _...Different types of dust produce different results_ _when used in tandem with a semblance._

"Yang Xiao Long, prepare your kingdom for battle!"

"Bring it on!"

"I deploy THE ATLESIAN AIR FLEET!" Ruby yelled, causing Ochre, who was sitting a few feet away from her to flinch from the volume.

*Gasp*

 _Fire type dusts create a fiery afterimage for most contact-type semblances. Other effects vary._

When Ochre found Weiss, she had been studying in the library, and almost immediately after she found her, the rest of the Team came in with Remnant: The game. Weiss had sent a text to the rest of the team, and Ochre hadn't felt her scroll buzzing on the way there.

"Looks like I get to fly right over your Ursai and attack your walls directly!"

*Gasp* "You fiend!" Yang said.

Ruby had then forced almost everyone to play the game.

 _Ice type dusts And Earth type dusts tend to have a solidifying effect on contact and certain manipulation type semblances. This is_ highly _dependent on the semblance. Other effects vary._

"And since Atlas is part of Mantle, my repair time only lasts One Turn." Ruby gloated.

Yang then chuckled, and pulled up a card that had been face down on the board.

"Pretty sneaky sis, but you've activated my trap card!"

"Whaaaaaaa!"

"Giant Nevermore!" Yang called and slammed her fist on the table, toppling over all her game pieces. A few feet away, Ochre snickered and thought. _Yugioh much?_

Yang then called out what the card did. Yep. Definitely Yugioh. "If I roll a seven or higher, Fatal Feathers will slice your fleet in two!"

"But, if you roll a six or lower, the nevermore will turn on your own fleet."

"That's just a chance I'm willing to take."

Then Yang rolled the twelve-sided dice and got an eight. Ruby dramatically called "NOOOOOO! My FEARLESS SOLDIERS!" As Yang made the nevermore card swoop in and knock down half of Ruby's game pieces. The Blonde shrugged. "Eh, most of 'em were probably androids."

After reading for a little longer, Ochre came upon this line:

 _All other types of dust vary too much depending on the semblance to properly describe. And there are so many different types of semblances Professor Peach couldn't possibly label them all._

Ochre snorted after reading this. Of course Weiss would write down every little thing. This was actually why the class has ended so early. The subject was simply too broad, and there were too many exceptions for anyone to teach. But it was also a pretty important one when it came to fighting the Grimm. Not to mention it was a relatively new technique. I mean, according to the history books, huntsmen and huntresses had only been around for about 80 years or so.

 _And then there are the semblances that center around the manipulation of a certain type of dust._

Now, a lot of this, especially the different types of semblances were still confusing to Ochre, and though Blake and Yang had a little information exchange awhile back, she still had to cross reference some of her other notes to really get it.

 **Contact type semblances: Involving the users body** Ex: Yang, Cardin, Ruby, Blake? Nora, Ren? 

**Manipulation type** **semblances: Involving the users manipulation of an outside element i.e dust.** Ex: Pyrrha, Weiss?

Team Jnpr was sitting at a table across the room from Ochre. Ren was reading a book that Nora was sleeping on, Pyrrha was studying and Jaune was reading an X-ray and Vav comic book.

"Goodbye My friends. You will be avenged."

"Not before I draw my rewards, which are double this round thanks to the Mistral trade route."

"Bah!" Ruby called. Tossing a couple of game pieces across the room.

"Oh, and what's this?" Yang called in mock confusion, "The smugglers of windpath?!"

"Bah! Bah! I say!"

Pyrrha took Jaune's comic book away and pushed a history journal in front of his pouting face. Then she began reading the comic herself.

"Looks like I'm taking two cards from your hand."

"HAVE YOU NO HEART!?" Ruby cried.

Meanwhile, Weiss and Blake were watching the exchange in mild confusion, until Yang said, "Weiss, it's your turn."

Weiss took a quick glance at the cards in her hand, before furrowing her eyebrows and saying "I have...absolutely no idea what's going on."

Yang slid over and put a hand over Weiss shoulder. She looked over Weiss's cards and said, "Look, It's easy! You're playing as Vacuo which means all Vacuo cards come with a bonus."

"That sounds dumb." Weiss dryly said.

"See... you've got Sandstorm, Desert Scavenge-Ooh! Resourceful Raider."

Ochre glanced over to Ruby, whose tears were defying gravity, running sideways down her face instead of downwards onto the table.

Yang continued explaining. "See, now you can take Ruby's discarded airfleet," "Noooo..." "And put it in your hand."

"Okay..." Weiss said, still confused but going along with it. "And since Vacuo warriors have an endurance boost against natural hazards, you can use Sandstorm to disable my ground forces and simultaneously infiltrate my kingdom." Then she pointed a finger at Weiss. "Just know, that I will not forget this declaration of war."

If it was even possible, Weiss got even more confused. "And that means..?"

"You're just three moves away from conquering Remnant!" Ruby said, voice squeaky from crying. Her tears were still doing that defying gravity thing, but they were starting to pool on the table, so Ochre dropped a couple of tissues next to her face.

At the very least, Weiss understood that, and she adjusted accordingly. "Ahahahahaha! YES! FEAR THE ALMIGHTY POWER OF MY FORCES! COWER AS THEY PILLAGE YOUR HOMES, AND WEEP AS THEY TAKE YOUR CHILDREN FROM YOUR VERY ARMS-"

"Trap card." Yang cut in, holding a card in front of Weiss.

"Huh?" Weiss said, understandably confused. Then Yang swept her arms over the board, knocking over all of Weiss's pieces while smiling and saying "Your armies have been destroyed."

Weiss slumped in her chair, tears trailing down her face. "I hate this game of emotions we play..." She cried, sniffling. Ruby jumped into her lap, hugging her, and nuzzling her tear streaked face in Weiss's neck.

"Stay strong Weiss. We'll get through this together!"

"Shut up! Don't touch me." The heiress cried. But despite her words, she hugged Ruby tight. And Ochre inwardly cooed at how adorable they were.

Yang just put her hands behind her head all relaxed like, and looked at Blake. "All right, Blakey, you're up!"

Blake had been staring off into oblivion, and now she snapped to attention, glancing around confusedly. "Huh? Sorry what am I doing again?"

Yang immediately launched into an explanation. "You're playing as Vale trying to conquer the four kingdoms of Remnant!"

"Right..." Blake trailed off.

Ochre chuckled, bringing Team RWBY's attention on her. "C'mon Blake, staring off into the distance and contemplating life is ' **my'** thing." This earned a small smile from Blake.

Jaune walked over and asked, "Hey, can I play?"

"Sorry Jaune, we already have four players." Ruby told him.

Weiss looked down her nose at the blond. "Besides," She said snidely "This game requires a certain level of tactical cunning that I seriously doubt you posses."

"Uh, you attacked your own navel fleet two turns ago." Yang pointed out.

Weiss "Hmmmmph"ed

"Bring it on Ice Queen." Jaune said. "I'll have you know that I've been told I'm a natural born leader."

"By who?" Weiss mocked. "Your mother?"

"A-and Pyrrha." Jaune added while Pyrrha said "Hello again!" In the background.

"Aaand, indirectly Ozpin." Ochre added. Causing Weiss to turn to her.

Seeing the couple of looks sent her way, Ochre said, "Look, I'm just sayin', Jaune was made Team Leader for a reason. And, no offense to you Jaune," "None taken" "but at the time, it wasn't for your fighting skills."

It was at that moment that Sun decided to come in, and he entered with a "Sup' Losers." While making a piece sign.

"Hey Sun." Ruby greeted amicably.

"Ruby, Yang, Blake, Ochre. Ice Queen." Sun said.

"Why does everyone keep calling me that?!"

Sun ignored her and continued. "I never got the chance to introduce you to my friend."

The blue haired guy said "Uhh...Aren't libraries for reading?"

"Thank you!" Ren called, and at that moment Nora woke up and snorted "Pancakes!"

Sun turned to the his friend. "Shut up, don't be a nerd."

"g-g-g-g-g-'Intellectual', okay? Thank you." Then he turned to the group. "I'm Neptune."

"So, Neptune." Weiss said. "Where are you from?"

"Haven, and..." He walked over and stood next to Weiss. "...And I don't believe I've caught your name, snow angel."

Ochre openly scowled at his flirty attitude.

"Um...I'm Weiss." She said while Jaune whisper yelled, "Are you kidding me?!"

"Pleasure to meet you." Neptune said.

They're conversation falls into obscurity as Ochre reluctantly focused on what Sun was saying to Blake.

"I never took you as the board game playing type." He idly commented.

Blake stood up, threw the cards on the table and said, "Well, I think I'm done with playing." Then she walked off.

Sun had a look on his face that asked, 'what's up with her?'

That was right about where Ochre left to see if Blake was okay.

* * *

"How did it go?" Glynda asked. She had been absent for both meetings.

There was a slight worried edge to her tone. How could there not be, with the message Qrow sent?

Queen has pawns.

It could mean a lot of things really. And once he had been reminded of this, Ozpin had taken it to mean that _She_ already had someone inside the school. And with Ochre's record, or lack thereof, her convenient arrival at From Dust til Dawn, and, according to Ozpin, her apparent knowledge of current events...Well, what were they supposed to think?

Thankfully for Glynda's spiralling thoughts, Ozpin chose that moment to start speaking.

"I believe I can confidently say that Ms. Zinnia isn't one of the people Qrow was referring to."

Glenda inwardly sighed in relief.

"However," And there went the relief.

"She _does_ appear to know far more than we have given her credit for."

Huh? "What do you mean?"

Ozpin had a small smile on his face. "You would not believe what she said to James as she left my office, 'You should not have brought so many bullheads.' And, according to James, she seemed so certain of it. It almost sounded like a warning."

Well, Glynda _wouldn't_ have expected that from the quiet, studious girl.

"Do you want me to keep an eye on her?" She asked.

"Yes I do believe that would be best."

Alright then. Ms. Goodwitch would keep an eye on Ms. Zinnia for the foreseeable future.

With that, Glynda excused herself, and left the office.

* * *

The dorm room door slid open, and a brown haired girl stared through the open doorway. Inside the room, a girl with black hair and a bow on top of her head, lay curled up on her bed. She had deep bags under her eyes, and stared off to nowhere, lost in thought, seemingly oblivious to everything around her. The crickets in the background added to the peaceful yet somber atmosphere. That is, until a soft and concerned voice called out,

"Blake?"

* * *

 **A/n: Yes. Libraries are for studying.** **Ochre may or may not have screwed herself over. A** **nd, _because_ libraries are for studying, I took the opportunity to establish some rules about aura and dust. If you have any questions, Pm me or leave a review and I'll answer next chapter.**

 **Now, did anyone get the reference in the chapter title? (It's not Undertale, for once.)**


End file.
